Albus Potter and the Scar of Wizardry
by Worldisquiethere
Summary: Harry hears of a prophecy of the future that may concern one of his children and the next generation of Potters. Complete!
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Harry looked up at the portraits of the past headmasters who had just given him a thunderous round of applause. He then tuned to Dumbledore and began to speak.

"The thing that was hidden in the snitch, I dropped it in the forest don't know exactly where, but I am not going to go looking for it again. Do you agree?"

Harry saw a smile crack beneath the old wizard as he said, "I do." The other portraits looked completely befuddled. "A wise and courageous decision, but no less then I would have expected of you. Does anyone else know where it fell?"

"No one." replied Harry seeing Dumbledore nod in approval, "But I think I am going to keep Ignotus' present though."

Dumbledore's smile lifted even higher "But of course, Harry, it is yours forever, until you pass it on."

"And then there is this." Harry indicated to the Elder Wand. "I don't want it."

Ron piped up in surprise, "What? Are you mental?"

Harry sighed, "I know it's powerful, but I was happier with mine, so," Harry pulled the broken pieces of his wand out of the pouch around his neck. He laid it down on the desk and hoping for the best said, "_Reparo!_" The wand came together as Harry put down the Elder Wand in favor of his holly wand."I am putting the Elder Wand back where it came from. It can stay there. If I die a natural death like Ignotus, its power will be broken, won't? Its previous master will never have been defeated. That'll be the end of it." Harry's eyes met Dumbledore's as he had his theory sanctioned.

"Are you sure?" asked Ron, longing for the wand.

"I think Harry's right," Hermione said.

"That wand is more trouble than it's worth. And honestly I've had enough trouble for a lifetime." Harry said. He then put his arms around his two best friends and receded down the stairs. Once at the bottom of the stairs, the trio was just pashing the busted gargoyle when harry realized he had forgotten something.

"I'll be right back; I think I've forgotten something." Harry said to Ron and Hermione. He realized he had almost broken his recent promise to Dumbledore and left the Elder Wand on the Headmaster's desk. As Harry approached the top of the stairs he heard Dumbledore's voice start to speak.

"Even in death, my talents when I was alive have given me a bit of insight into the future." Came out the voice of Dumbledore.

"So you plan to just let the wand lay there?" hissed the voice of Severus Snape, the newest portrait in the room.

"I have seen bits of the future and I know that certain things happen for a reason. I can only say that had Harry not left the wand now, he might have let go of it in a quite more painful way." Dumbledore assured Snape. "I know Harry is tired, but he may have a final, if not as important, role in the fore coming events."

"I trust your judgment, Dumbledore, but who, pray tell, will be involved in the coming events? Who will it be?" asked Snape calmer then Harry had ever heard him when he was still alive.

At this point Harry knew he needed to get a better view of the conversation so he drew out his Invisibility Cloak and walked quietly into the room. There he saw Dumbledore pointing to the Pensive that lay across from him. On its rim was a corked bottle containing what Harry knew had to be a memory.

"The Last Prophecy." Dumbledore announced. "When the time comes another will come to stop the forces of dark magic." Dumbledore turned in the direction of Harry and Harry felt the same sensation he had felt years ago when he and Ron had been hiding under the cloak while Hagrid was being taken away. "But no one should worry about it now. It could be years from now and when the time comes, we can only hope that the light that had shined from Harry will reveal itself once more. Within him and the other."

Harry knew he didn't need to hear this, whatever would happen he would be prepared for it. When the time comes, Harry will do what is needed but for now Harry knew his adventure was over. So he headed down the stairs and took off the cloak. As much as he loved it, he hoped he would never need it again, for Voldemort was dead; for the war was over.

All was well.

_Eight Years later_

_July 27, 2006_

_Potter Family Home_

"Hold him will you?" asked Harry's wife, Ginny.

Harry scooped up the little bundle from Ginny's hands as she drifted into the next room. Ten day ago, July 17th, Harry's second son, Albus Severus, was born. Harry was burning with joy. He enjoyed holding his child, it helped him relax. It helped him forget about all the troubles in the world. The head of the Auror department was just found dead and at the worst time possible. The Muggle world was becoming wise onto the Wizarding world. It seemed that magic was failing. In the last few years, magic had become sort of cursed itself. No one dared to speak of it out loud, but it was known, especially because simple Muggle repelling charms had failed and had given glimpses of the Wizarding world to the wrong people. Yes, it was a distressing time, but here with his son, Harry felt at peace.

Harry rocked his child back and forth for several minutes until a piece of Albus' blanket fell off. Harry reached to go get it when he noticed something on Albus. As he held his son, Harry saw on Albus' back and red-orange scar. Frantic, Harry called out, "Ginny!"

Ginny rushed in looking and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Look." Harry indicated to Albus' back.

"It's a-" Ginny began.

"Wand. It's a wand." Harry said. It was then that Harry recalled the events of so long ago in Dumbledore's office when he overheard the former headmasters speaking with each other of the future and of a prophecy.

"So," Harry looked from his wife to his son, "it has begun."


	2. Return

**Return**

"Hurry!" hissed Albus' brother, James.

"Why? It's not like anyone is here to see us." replied Albus.

"You're bother is right, Albus. We can't risk being seen. Not in these times." said Harry. James flashed a smirk at his brother. Albus hated when his brother was right. His brother, who was three years older than him, had been acting like that ever since Albus had received his letter from Hogwarts. Lately, James had been acting real angry towards Albus and his cousins, Lucy and Rose, hadn't made it any easier on him. When he had first received his letter by owl, Albus had been bursting with excitement but now he wasn't so sure.

"Okay, back up now." said Harry to his family. He then took out his wand and tapped rapidly on the brick wall in front of them. Slowly, the bricks started to recede until they revealed their destination, Diagon Alley.

"All right," said James, "We're good now. With all the Muggles who have made it into the Leaky Cauldron lately, we have to be extremely careful."

"Show off." muttered Albus under his breath. James and his cousins had been telling him all summer that he would end up in Slytherin house. At first he had thought it a joke but after they had realized that Albus' initials were A.S.P- asp. He had been worried. He couldn't be in Slytherin! And yet… Albus' mind wandered off. Why didn't he have to be there? He was sick of people comparing him to his father, Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived. There was confusion in Albus. He didn't want to be like his father but he didn't want to be a Slytherin either.

"Albus!" cried Harry. Albus jumped. He had been so immersed in his thoughts that he had forgotten where they were. "Which one would you like?" Harry pointed to the owls in Eeylops Owl Emporium. Albus looked around the Emporium at all the owls until his eyes fell on a barn owl whose wings were tipped green and whose lower half was a subtle red. The strange colors intrigued Albus and pointed to it.

"Interesting choice, son." Harry smiled as he headed to go buy it. But Albus wasn't listening, because across the street on the other side of the alley Albus saw a store that he knew contained the most important thing he would need.

"Ah, it seems you have discovered Ollivander's Wand Shop, Albus." Harry smiled. He then dropped some coins into his son's hand. "You mother will be finished getting your books soon, so why don't we all meet back in the Leaky Cauldron in, say, half an hour?"

Albus nodded and ran out of the store. Within a second he had forgotten his worries and rushed across the street to the wand store. As he approached the shop he slowed down, his heart beating with anticipation. He slowly pushed his way through the door and saw four figures. It took him a second to adjust to the dim light, but as he did he recognized the people in front of him. His Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione were standing on both sides of their daughter, Rose who was holding a wand spitting out gold sparks. The fourth figure was an old, balding man who was smiling faintly over the wand that Rose was holding.

"Thank you, Mr. Ollivander and have a good day." said Hermione. The three of them both turned around and found themselves facing Albus. Hermione let out a shriek of happiness when she saw her nephew and said, "Albus dear, hello! Coming in to buy your wand?"

Albus nodded. "Yes. I didn't know you were coming today as well."

Ron replied "Neither did we but I had to come in to help out at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. George is at home with Roxanne. Ever since the divorce with Angelina, he's been pretty busy taking care of his children. So we decided to come today. Anyways, where are your parents?"

"My dad just bought me and owl and my mum is getting my books and uniforms with Lily and James. If you want, we're all meeting back at the Leaky Cauldron in half an hour." Albus explained.

"All right, we just have to go find Hugo and then we'll meet you there." said Hermione.

"But I wanted to go to look at the new Crimsonstrike 1000." Ron complained.

"Just come on." Hermione pulled Ron out of the shop. "Honestly."

"Bye, Al!" Rose chirped, seeming more excited than usual.

Albus watched them leave as he heard the voice of the fourth figure, Ollivander, address him.

"So, Albus Potter, is it finally your turn?" asked Ollivander.

"Yes Mr. Ollivander." Albus said, knowing what Ollivander was referring to.

"Let's see." Ollivander said glancing over his shoulder. "Ah, here she is. I trust you know, my assistant?"

Albus nodded as a swaying Luna Lovegood walked into the room holding a few boxes of wands. "Hello, Luna."

Luna smiled over at Albus and said dreamily, "Hello, Albus."

"Mrs. Lovegood has opted to act as my assistant during the summer." Ollivander said to Albus.

"The Jindoks hibernate during the summer, so I need to wait until the seasons change." Luna explained thoughtfully. Albus nodded, although he had absolutely no idea what a Jindok was or if it even existed. "The usual, Mr. Ollivander?"

"Please." replied Ollivander, taking the wands from Luna. He took the first one from the pile and handed it to Albus. "Try this one."

Albus held it in hand and immediately dropped it from how cold it had become. He then took another one that was offered to him by Ollivander but found it unsuitable as well. Seven wands later he had still been unable to find a suitable wand.

"Well, Mr. Potter, it seems these wands are not for you." Ollivander looked around as if in search of something. "Now, normally I wouldn't do this, but you're a…special case." Ollivander picked up a wand from one of the drawers of his desk. "As I am sure you know, lately magic has become wild and unpredictable, harder to control. So a while back the Ministry of Magic had commissioned me to search for ways of enhancing wands. Before that time, I had only used Phoenix feathers, Dragon heartstrings, and Unicorn tail hairs. After being notified by the Ministry of this request I decided it was time use different cores that I normally wouldn't use. Few of my original cores are made into wands. These new wands were certainly more powerful, to an extent, but they still had trouble with magic. What you are holding in your hands is one of my newest experiments with wands: using two cores for the same wand." Ollivander offered the wand to Albus who took it in hand. Immediately the wand became warm in Albus' hand and started spitting purple sparks from the tip.

Ollivander's silvery eyes glowed. "12 ¾ inches, Phoenix feather and basilisk scale cores made of Ebony, nice and sturdy. To tell you the truth, Mr. Potter, I am glad that wand was the one or else I don't know what I would do."

Albus was confused. "What do you mean, Mr. Ollivander? There must be hundreds of wands in here."

"The wand chooses the wizard, Albus. You would do well to remember that. Ever since your cousin, Victoire Weasley, walked into my shop seven years ago every member of the Potter and Weasley families have been chosen by wands with a phoenix feather core, undoubtedly the most trusted of all wand core, although many wizards and witches prefer to use other, more powerful cores. Even you father's godson, Ted Lupin, has a phoenix core in his own wand."

"So why did you give me this wand to try?"

"Because, Mr. Potter, I knew you would respond as your family had and after not responding to the regulars I decided that it is time." answered Ollivander.

Albus was curious, "Time for what?"

Ollivander sighed a huge sighed and continued, "Dark times are approaching us, Mr. Potter. If ever it was a time to give someone a powerful wand as this it would be now. You know, I remember every wand I have ever sold. It seems just like yesterday your father walked in my shop searching for his wand. And he found one that proved to be quite useful to him in the battles that came. 11 ½ inches, made of holly with a core of a Phoenix feather. Nice and supple. It seems you and him are quite alike, as much as I can tell you don't want to hear it. But in times to come you will take your similarities as a virtue. I was never any good at Divination when I myself was a student, but I can tell Mr. Potter, that you will need this wand in the times to come."

Albus nodded and held out his hand to give Ollivander the money for the wand but Ollivander pushed it away.

"Oh no, Mr. Potter, this wand is free of charge."

Albus thanked him, although was slightly suspicious as to why Ollivander hadn't charged him for his newly purchased wand. At any rate, he left and headed off towards the Leaky Cauldron.

Albus arrived at the inn to find his parents talking to Neville Longbottom.

"Albus, did you get your wand?" asked Harry.

Albus held up the wand. "Yes. Hello, Neville."

"Hello, Albus." said the round faced Neville.

"Neville." called out the voice of Neville's wife, Hannah. "I need you up here."

"Probably little Jon making a mess upstairs, excuse me, Harry." and Neville headed up the stairs of the inn.

Harry turned his attention back to Albus. "Rose and her parents stopped by. You're doing?"

Albus smiled a little. "Yeah."

"Well, if you have everything we are ready to go." said Harry.

"I am." replied Albus waving his wand.

"Then let's head out." Harry turned around and led his family out of the inn.

Albus looked at his wand and gently flicked it. A few small yellow sparks came from it and caused Harry's robe to fly upwards. Harry quickly flattened his robe back down but merely thought it to be a sudden gust of wind. But before he flattened the robe, Albus had gotten glimpse of something. Something silver. Albus was about to ask when he decided it would be best not to. Besides what did it matter to him in two weeks he would be going back to Hogwarts.

Suddenly the terrible woes of life at school filled him once more.


	3. King's Cross

**King's Cross**

"It won't be long and you'll be going too." Harry reassured his sobbing daughter.

"Two years!" she shrieked. "I want to go now!"

As the Potters and Weasleys approached the barrier to Platform 9 ¾, James continued to taunt his little brother.

"You know, I heard that in the Slytherin dormitory you have to defeat a Swedish Short-Snout if you want a bed to sleep on." He whispered to Albus.

"I won't!" Albus yelled, "I won't be in Slytherin!"

The two boys' mother shot a weary glare at her eldest son and said, "Please, James, give it a rest."

James replied defensively, "I only said he might be in Slytherin! There's nothing wrong with saying he might be in Slyth-" James then fell silent before finishing his sentence after catching the angry glare his mother shooting at him. He then decided it would be a good idea to disappear into the barrier.

"You'll write to me, won't you?" Albus asked his parents, still shaking from what he had heard James say.

Sweetly his mother replied, "Every day if you want us to."

"Not every day! James told me most people only get letters from home once a month." replied Albus hurriedly.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "We wrote to James three times a week last year."

"And," Harry said thinking of James' consistent talk of Slytherin House, "you don't want to believe everything he tells you about Hogwarts. He's just like my father; he likes a laugh, your brother."

"All you need to do," Harry explained trying to change the subject, "is run towards the barrier. It's probably best to close your eyes."

Albus nodded and started to run towards the barrier between Platforms 9 and 10. He closed his eyes right as it seemed he would run into the barrier. After a moment he reopened his eyes to see the crimson Hogwarts Express in front of him. He looked back at the barrier to see Ginny and Lily, who was clutching Harry's hand, enter the station.

Excited to see his cousin Rose again, even if she might pester him about becoming part of Slytherin House, Albus asked, "Where are they?"

"We'll find them." Ginny reassured Albus while squinting through the steam coming from the train. After about a minute, she said "I think that's them, Al."

From the steam walked in Hermione and Ron followed closely by their Hugo and Rose. Relieved to see them, Albus said hi to them.

Rose stepped out from behind her parents to greet Albus. She looked much like her mother had in the pictures Albus had seen from when their parents were kids. She had the same fair skin and minuscule figure as Hermione had. She also had the bushy hair that her mother had, although it was flaming red as most of the Weasley children. Of course, she was also already in her Hogwarts robes.

"Aren't you excited, Albus?" asked Rose. "Our very first year at Hogwarts!"

"Yes." Albus glumly replied.

"Oh, you aren't still thinking about the whole Slytherin thing, are you?" asked Rose.

Albus didn't answer her but instead turned back to their parents who were putting their trunks on the train and having a discussion about Muggle driving tests.

Ron turned to Rose and started to speak, "If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you, but no pressure."

"Ron!" Hermione hit him on his shoulder. Hugo and Lily laughed at Ron's joke, but both Rose and Albus looked quite solemn.

Seeing their faces, Hermione and Ginny reassured them that Ron hadn't meant it, but Rose and Albus were now paying attention to Ron and Harry as they spotted three people entering the platform.

"Look who it is," Ron pointed, "so that's little Scorpius Malfoy, you better be sure to beat him in every test, Rosie. Thank God you inherited your mother's brains!"

"Ron!" Hermione hit Ron's arm again, "For heaven's sake, don't try to turn themselves against each other before they get to school."

Ron rubbed his arm. "Your right." Ron then leaned into Rose, "Don't get to friendly with him though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood."

Rose and Albus looked on to see the people that their parents were referring to. The Malfoys. It had been some time before Harry had settled the arguments that had been between their two families, but as Albus looked onto Scorpius' face, that resembled his father's face as much as Albus did his; he couldn't help but feel uneasy towards him. Albus was about to step forward to get a better look when he saw James running towards them obviously bursting with something to tell them.

"Teddy's back there, just seen him! And guess what he's doing? Snogging Victoire!" He looked at everyone, but even Albus and Rose didn't seem to really care. "Our Teddy, Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire, our cousin! And I asked Teddy what he was doing-"

"You interrupted them? You are so like Ron." said Ginny looking to her brother.

But James continued. "And he said he'd come to see her off and then he told me to go away. He's snogging her!"

Even at this point the only one who seemed interested was Lily. "Oh, I'd be lovely if they got married. Teddy would really be part of the family then."

Harry rolled his eyes. "He already comes around for dinner four times a week, why don't we just invite him to live with us and have done with it?"

"Yeah, I don't mind sharing a room with Al, Teddy could stay in my room." James added enthusiastically.

"Excuse me?" asked Albus.

"No." Harry said firmly. "You and Al will share a room when I want the house demolished."

"You keep inviting George over; you might have to expect that." Ron murmured.

Harry checked the watch he had received twenty years ago, "It's nearly Eleven o'clock, you best get on board."

James started to hug his parents goodbye and as he reached Ginny she said to him, "Don't forget to give Neville our love."

"Mum I can't go give my Herbology professor love." James said.

"But you know Neville." Retorted his mother.

"At home, yeah, but at Hogwarts he's Professor Longbottom, I can't just walk into the class and give him love." James rolled his eyes once more and decided to give Albus a swift kick. "Later, Al. And watch out for the Thestrals."

"You said they were invisible!" but James just laughed at his brother. He said goodbye to Ron and Hermione and the rest of the family and then boarded the train.

Harry must have seen the worried look on Albus' face, because he said "Thestrals are nothing to worry about, they're gentle things, not a scary thing about them. Not that it matters, you won't be on the carriages until next year." Of course Harry didn't know that that wasn't the thing bothering him but gave his son a hug anyways. "Don't forget, Hagrid's invited you to tea next Friday but try not to eat his rock cakes, don't mess with Peeves, don't duel anyone until you know how and don't let James wind you up." Harry winked at the part about dueling and Albus just sighed to himself, not wanting to think about his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

But that wasn't all, the thing that was bothering him the most was gathering inside him until he couldn't help but ask, "What if I'm in Slytherin?"

Harry crouched down to his son's level and looked him in the eyes. The same eyes that his father had, the same eyes his grandmother had. "Albus Severus. You were named for two headmasters of Hogwarts. One of them, was great Gryffindor and another was a Slytherin and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew."

Albus still wasn't convinced. "But, just say-"

"Then Slytherin house will have gained an excellent student won't it? It doesn't matter to us, but if it matters to you, you will be able to choose Gryffindor over Slytherin. The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account." Harry said.

Albus' eyes gleamed with hope. "Really?"

Harry smiled, "It did for me."

Albus trusted his father and felt this was good enough for him. So, he hopped onto the train and started to wave to his parents and aunt and uncle. But as he looked around he saw everyone was looking in their direction. "Why are they staring?" he asked.

"Don't let it worry you," Ron called to Albus and Rose, "it's me, I'm extremely famous."

Albus and Rose, along with Lily and Hugo who were on the station laughed as the train started to pull out of the station and Albus got the last glimpse of his parents.

"He'll be alright." Rose said in the fashion of Ginny and Albus instantly knew she was reading his parents lips, as unique talent of hers. She switched over to Harry. "I know he will." And they rounded the corner with Albus getting the last glimpse of his father touching his scar. Albus headed to find a compartment. He decided to go straight to the back where he and Rose found only one other boy.

"Can we sit here?" Albus asked.

"Sure, go ahead." Said the boy, looking slightly happy.

"Thanks." Albus replied.

"My, it's cold in here, don't you think?" asked Rose.

"Here, I'll close the window." said the boy. He went to reached for it when a loud scream came from outside.

"What was that?" asked Rose anxiously.

"We, just passed a farm, someone must have just gotten a fright." shrugged the boy. He sat back down and reached into his trunk and pulled out what Albus saw to be a Chocolate Frog. He devoured it quickly, obviously aware of the jumping capabilities of the candy. "Do you want?" he asked them with a stuffed mouth, but both of them politely declined.

He took out a bag from his trunk that contained a whole mess of Chocolate Frogs. "Only way to learn Wizarding history other than opening a book. Hey, you mind lifting your hair?" he asked Albus. "Drat, I thought you were the guy on the card I just got, some bloke named Harry Potter."

"That's my dad." replied Albus.

"Really? Says here he was the only one to have ever survived the killing curse, and he did it twice. He was the Chosen One and defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort."

"That's dad."

"Then are you related to this Granger woman or this Weasley man?" the boy addressed Rose.

"My mother and father."

"Well, just my luck, one month into the Wizarding World and I've already met the children of the three most famous witches and wizards of the age. My name's Luke Harris, by the way, Muggle born." said the boy who had just introduced himself as Luke as he extended his arm.

"I'm Albus Potter."

"Nice to meet you Albus. And who might you be?" asked Luke.

"Rose Weasley." Rose replied stiffly, obviously having not taken a liking to the strange boy they had just recently encountered.

"All right, I can tell when I'm not wanted." Luke threw his hands into the air defensively and as he did a gold chain flew out from under his shirt. The chain held a golden locket in the shape of a heart with a green hexagram emblazed on the front of it. As Rose saw this she started to snicker.

"A golden heart-shaped locket, don't you think that's a little…girly?" she asked.

Luke's face became serious. "It's my dead mothers."

Rose stopped snickering and immediately fell over apologizing. "Sorry, I didn't realize."

"It's all right, you didn't know." said Luke.

"Hey are that your owl?" asked Albus.

"Yeah, want to see?" asked Luke grinning.

Albus nodded excitedly and only then did he realize what had happened.

He had a friend.


	4. The Sorting Mishap

**The Sorting Mishap**

"These robes are itchy." complained Luke.

As the three of them stepped off the Hogwarts Express, Albus finally got his first good glimpse of Luke without his trunk over his face or food stuffed in his mouth. Luke was slightly taller than Albus, with light brown hair that looked as though it hadn't ever been combed. He had yellow eyes that looked at Albus and gave him the feeling it knew something he didn't. Luke looked a little frail, but had broad shoulders and, as Albus recalled from earlier when Albus had handed Luke a couple of Galleons, firm hands. His face was sleek with distinct Eastern features and a small mouth. All in all, Albus thought he had found a nice friend.

Rose rolled her eyes at Luke complaint and then pointed to the large figure approaching them. "Look, Al, it's Hagrid!"

"Firs' years ov' here, Firs' year ov' here!" yelled Hagrid to the witches and wizards getting off the train onto Hogsmeade Station. "Oi, you, not on the carriages!"

Rose and Albus laughed as the saw a first year girl trying to hop onto the carriages. She looked a little insulted but realized her mistake and headed towards the large mass of first year students.

After several minutes, it had seemed that most of the first year students had gathered around and Hagrid began checking who they were still waiting for.

"Osmer?" asked Hagrid.

"Over here, sir." said a little boy.

"Patil?" Hagrid continued off the list.

"Here" said a girl.

"Pott-" Hagrid began and then he saw the name he was about to read. "Albus? Ther' yeh are, didn' see yeh ther'."

"Hi Hagird." Albus smiled.

"And where's little Rosie?" asked Hagrid.

"Evening, Hagrid." replied Rose.

"Ther' yeh are. Blimey, the two of yeh sure've grown since I last saw yeh'." Hagrid beamed at them and then returned to his list. After a minute of calling out names, Hagrid declared. "All we're waiting for is Malfoy."

"Here I am." Called out the drawling voice of a boy.

Hagrid squinted into the darkness and dropped the cheery voice he had been using for a moment. "right, ther' yeh are." Hagrid resumed in his cheery voice. "All right, ever' one fin' a boat and follow me. No more than four teh a boat."

Every one rushed off to find a boat with the friends they had made. All but Scorpius Malfoy.

Rose, Albus, and Luke headed to Hagrid's boat. "Er, probably bes' not have more than three people on a boat with me. Rosie would you mind going on the boat over there with Malfoy? He doesn't really have anyone else in his boat, fer me?" Hagrid asked.

Rose glanced at Malfoy, "All right, Hagrid, for you." Rose ran off to the boat while Hagrid ushered Albus and Luke onto his boat.

"An' who might yeh be?" Hagrid asked Luke.

"I-I-I'm-" Luke stammered.

Hagrid laughed. "Better get used to seeing strange thing like a giant man. You'll see worse things in my class, although 'haps not this year."

"You-your class?" asked Luke.

"Care of Magical Creatures. Worse as in Blast-Ended Skrewts, Hagrid?" asked Albus who had heard more than enough from his parents about the vicious creatures Hagrid had created.

Hagrid and Albus laughed but Luke was still wearing a frightened face. "Blast ended-"

But Hagrid waved the subject away as they the gargantuan Hogwarts Castle came into view.

Hagrid had taken the awed students up into the castle where they met an old woman who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall.

"You will wait here and then in a minute when we are ready, I'll come back and retrieve you for your sorting." said the old woman as she left through the door in front of them.

Luke who had finally calmed down turned to Albus and asked, "What's the sorting?"

Albus sat down glumly and said, "It's when they sort you into your house."

"Come on, Potter, you need to be more descriptive than that."

Albus turned to see a girl talking to him, "Who are you?"

"Name's Katherine Valejii, Potter." She said and then turned to Luke. "The sorting is when it is decided if you will join Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff house. You house is like your family. You do everything with your house. You can play on the Quidditch on your houses team and compete for the Quidditch cup. You help your house gain points that are awarded by teachers to compete for the House Cup at the end of the year, and you also do many electives with your house."

"Electives?" asked Albus.

"Well of course thing like Care of Magical Creatures and Divination and classes like that but also in the past few years the school decided to go beyond clubs and have given several periods a week for students to participate and magical electives." answered Valejii.

Albus looked at the girl. She seemed awfully nice and helpful. He hoped he would be in the same house as her. "What house do you hope to be in?" he blurted out completely on accident.

"Slytherin, of course." Valejii replied.

Albus' mouth fell open. How could someone so nice want to be in Slytherin? He was about to respond, although he had no clue how to, when Professor McGonagall reentered the corridor.

"They are ready for you." She said and pushed open the great double doors that led into the Great Hall. She led the first years down the center of the room. Albus looked around in amazement. There were four tables running from one end of the hall to the other. The walls were different then Albus had remembered from the photographs. Instead of brown stone walls, the walls were black and the ground was polished marble divided into four sections. Each section, based under the house tables, was colored the houses colors with their crest and the platform where the teachers table was had been made of brown stone and looked older ten the rest of the room. Albus realized it must have not been destroyed in the Battle of Hogwarts. The only difference was the Hogwarts crest on the floor, identical to the one Albus' robes, which had the words _Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus_ inscribed under it.

Albus felt a tugging on his robes as they got closer to the front of the hall. He saw that it was Luke pointing up at the ceiling which, as it seemed, was non-existent. All they could see was the night sky.

"It's enchanted to mimic the sky outside." Albus whispered to Luke.

Luke gawked in awe and subsequently craned his neck to try and get a glimpse of the teachers, but Albus just lowered his head knowing what was about to happen.

The students had finally made their way to the end of the hall and had walked to the side of the table when Luke gasped and said "Isn't that-"

"Good evening, students." a woman with auburn hair who approached the podium at the head of the hall announced, "and welcome to another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I am, as most of you know, Headmistress Aly Ravensddole. Before we get to the Sorting I have some news to share with you all. For years I have been putting forward a motion to the school governors to allow all students, not just third years in up to participate in electives. Finally the governors have agreed to my request."

A roaring applause, especially from the second-years and a couple of first years, broke out in the hall.

Ravensddole put up her hand for silence. "So, first and second year will need to join the third years in signing up for electives. Of course as usual the Forbidden Forest is forbidden and no students will be permitted out of their dormitories after hours. And finally before you meet your new classmates, let me introduce you to your new professors. Professor Binns has finally taken leave and moved on." Quite snickering filled the hall, as if it was some school wide joke, "So please welcome your new History of Magic teacher, Grayson Kinlan." A short applause came from the crowd as Ravensddole continued. "Now students you were all here when the tragic death of Professor Soloh died. In an effort to see that such horrible events such as this never reoccur, please welcome your new-"

Albus crouched down as far as he could.

"Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, head of the Auror office, Harry Potter!" cried Ravensddole.

A thunderous applause emerged throughout the hall. Harry Potter stood up and headed to the podium from which Ravensddole had been speaking. "Good evening, everyone. I am happy to be back at Hogwarts and thrilled at the opportunity to be able to teach you all this year." Harry had been smiling up until this point, but now his face hardened into a more serious face. "The world we live in today is becoming more complicated every day. As you are all well aware, for unknown reasons, outside the magical grounds of Hogwarts, magic has begun failing. Muggles as well, have been stumbling onto magical sites. Whether these two incidents are related are anyone's guess, but this year I along with all of you teachers wish to teach you in the ways of magic in these troubling times. Darkness is falling upon us, and this year, we aim to make sure you are ready for these times. Remember that even when seems might seem bad, there is good in every one." Applause from the crowd was heard again as McGonagall headed up to the head of the room and plopped down a stool and put a tattered old hat on it.

For moment nothing happened but after a minute a crack in the hat opened wide to form a mouth and the hat began to sing.

_It was a thousand or so_

_Year long ago_

_That I was first sewn_

_Once burned at the hands_

_Of the worst foes in all lands_

_My wisdom lasts long_

_I am are never wrong_

_So put me on your head_

_I and I will send you ahead_

_To the house which you belong._

_Those who belong to Gryffindor_

_With bravery inside their eyes_

_Chivalry, gallantry, and with occasionally devise_

_But heed the caution of others, so wise_

_Or else lose all allies_

_Those who belong to Ravenclaw_

_Intelligence shines most of all_

_But never forget the wit of others_

_Or else, all will fall_

_Those who belong to Hufflepuff_

_Who are trusting and loyal_

_But be wary of those in toil_

_Or else fall into turmoil_

_Those who belong to Slytherin_

_Whose ambition is only exceeded by their cunning_

_But remember that without the aid of the heart_

_You'll be sent running_

_Dark times will soon be upon us_

_The world on a breaking axis_

_And only the bonds of friendship_

_Will dominate the evil that surrounds us_

The students all applauded and McGonagall picked up the hat. She then took out a scroll of parchment and began to read the names of first year students.

"Avery, Jocasta." McGonagall read.

A little girl waddled and put the hat on his head. "Slytherin!" the hat cried after a minute.

"Morgan, Jude."

"Slytherin!" cried the hat once more.

"Williams, Jonathan."

"Slytherin!"

The Slytherin table was beaming and clapping while the other house tables were sitting down glumly.

McGonagall continued on, mostly calling out Ravenclaw and Slytherin houses.

"Harris, Luke." read McGonagall.

Luke nervously walked up to the stool and sat down. He closed his eyes as the hat was lowered onto his head. For several minutes the hat didn't move an inch, but finally it cried out, "Hufflepuff!"

Luke looked towards Albus and smiled. Albus smiled back as Luke headed off to meet his new classmates.

McGonagall continued once more and Albus began to tune out. There were no Gryffindors so far, and Albus was getting worried. What if he had no one to be with inside his house? That was, if he was to be in Gryffindor.

"Malfoy, Scorpius." read McGonagall.

The tall Malfoy boy strode over to the stool to put on the hat.

"Oi!" called out a boy from the Slytherin table. "Why bother? Where else could a Malfoy end up but at home in the Slytherin Dungeons?"

Scorpius flashed the boy a dirty look as he muttered something under his breath.

The hat's tip moved up a little, as if raising an eyebrow and declared to the hall, "Gryffindor!"

For a moment the hall was deathly silent until the many Gryffindors stood up and started cheering. Scorpius smiled, not a hint of the smirk that had dominated his father's face, and walked down to greet his house mates.

A few mind wreaking minutes later McGonagall finally called out, "Potter, Albus."

Once again the room fell completely silent as Albus climbed onto the stool and donned on the Sorting Hat.

"Ah. Another Potter, is it? You and the Weasleys seem to be coming out of thin air. Now what to do with you. You're brave, yes, courageous and so much like your father. Yes, your father, he was a great Gryffindor, although there was a time where he would have made an excellent Slytherin. And what of you? Surely you're like your father? But no, even now I sense that you wish to not be like your father, but you refuse other houses." said the hat, responding to everything Albus thought. "So, where do you wish me to put you? I am never wrong, but your opinion cunts. So what'll it be, Slytherin or Gryffindor? Hmm?"

But Albus didn't have an answer. He didn't want to be a Slytherin nor a Gryffindor. He didn't want the world to see him as the son of Harry Potter, but as Albus Potter.

"You would do well in either," continued the hat, "but why can't you decided on one?" The hat switched his voice from inside Albus' mind to out loud to the entire school. "This boy has no house!" cried the hat.

The entire hall gasped and before Albus could react, he found himself being pulled out of the hall by McGonagall, followed by Harry and a man Albus had met a few times before, Horace Slughorn. After several minutes had passed, they finally reached a statue of an old wizard with half moon spectacles a long beard and piercing eyes that seemed to sparkle with kindness that was evident even though the figure was merely a statue. The man was holding in his hand a wand that was pointed to the sky and on his left shoulder rested a stone phoenix.

"Lot nicer then that old gargoyle." Albus heard Slughorn mutter to Harry.

"Password?" asked the statue.

"Wand of Elder never prosper." answered McGonagall.

"And we would be wise to remember that." said the figure as he stepped aside.

McGonagall handed Albus the Sorting Hat and left for the Great Hall. Albus looked from Harry to Slughorn who both seemed to gesture towards the opening that had been left by the statue. Albus stepped in the open space and turned to ask his father what he was supposed to do when a wall suddenly rose from the ground, trapping Albus inside the small open space. Albus was about to panic when the walls began to recede into the ground. Or was the ground just moving up? In any case, Albus was getting closer and closer to the ceiling until it was right above his head. The wall in front of Albus disappeared and an office appeared in front of him. Albus took a tentative step into the office and looked around, not sure exactly what he was looking for.

"Albus Potter, welcome to Hogwarts." said a voice from above Albus' head.

Albus looked up to see a portrait with the same man in it as the statue below.

"Do you know who I am, Albus?" asked the portrait.

There was a plaque under the portrait, but Albus didn't bother looking at it, he knew this man from his parents' stories. "You're-you're" Albus said breathlessly "you're Professor Dumbledore."

The old wizard, Dumbledore, smiled brightly at Albus. ""I don't believe even your father made it to the headmaster's office this quickly. Now what brings you here? There's a feast going on, after all."

"Well, sir, I was just being sorted, you see-" began Albus.

"Ah. Say no more. You didn't know which house you wanted to be in?"

Albus nodded. "You see, I was tired of everyone always comparing me to my father. I'm not him, I'm my own person. And why not Slytherin? They did help in the fight against Voldemort didn't they?"

"They did Albus. That much is true. So what happened? You had the hat on for several minutes and you didn't know where you wanted to go?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes, I just don't know where to go has that ever happened to anyone before?" answered Albus.

"Not in living memory. But you must decide now. What will it be? Rest assured, if in the end it turns out you made the wrong choice, you'll be able to choose what you feel is right." said Dumbledore.

Albus said nothing for minutes. He didn't know what to do but after a while, only one house seemed to appeal to Albus.

"Slytherin. I want to be in Slytherin house."


	5. Defiance

**Defiance**

Albus walked into the Great Hall to find it empty except for Rose, Luke, and a couple plates of food.

Rose saw Albus approaching them and jumped up, "Finally! We saved some food for you." she offered him a plate of what, as far as Albus could tell, was dead worms with a honey glazing on them. "Now come on, let's go. You can bring the plate, the house elves will get it for you."

Rose, who Albus could tell had obviously been sorted into Gryffindor, stared to pull Albus along to the entrance of the Great Hall when he was finally able to escape her grasp.

"Rose! Rose! Stop, I need to tell you something." Albus said.

Rather than Rose responding, Luke did, "What?"

"Rose, I'm not in Gryffindor. I was given I choice and I chose Slytherin." Albus explained.

"Slytherin? Are you mental? First Malfoy in Gryffindor, now you in Slytherin. It seems the whole world has just decided to fall over on its head." Rose said.

"Look, what's done is done." said Albus.

Rose looked mortified, but Luke just shrugged.

"Well, 'night." waved Luke.

Both Albus and Rose waved back, though with a considerably less amount of enthusiasm, and the three best of friends went their separate ways.

Albus made his way down into the cold depths of Hogwarts castle. What seemed like forever, Albus walked down flights of stairs and through narrow corridors until he finally saw a dim green light amidst the dark halls of the dungeons. He headed towards the green glow until he walked into a completely glass hall. Outside of the glass Albus found the source of the faint green light. It was water. He was under the lake. _Under the lake! _How far down was the common room? Albus was just thinking about heading back to find another route then the one he had been told when he found himself bumping into a wall. A dead end. Albus was just turning when a something large and heavy smacked his face, and the world went dark.

"Look at his face!" said a distant voice.

"Nice job. He still has to pass though." said another voice.

Albus stirred for a moment. Suddenly, dark figures came into view. Albus squinted his eyes to try and make out where he was.

"Oh, look," said one of the people, "he's awake."

Albus picked himself up as the room finally brightened. As he briefly looked around he saw he had been on the floor of a room with windows showing water and the same green glow had been cast over the room. The furniture, mostly green and silver where all covered in snake ornaments and skulls. Even the roaring fire was made of silvery flames with patches of green dancing around it. Albus knew where he must be. He had made it to the Slytherin common room.

A hand reached out from behind Albus to touch his. It was warm, friendly but Albus let go and spun around. It was Katherine Valejii.

"I am so sorry." she said apologetically. "I just opened the entrance when I heard a smack and I saw you laying on the floor and I-"

Albus motioned for her to stop, "Its fine. It wasn't on purpose."

Katherine still couldn't shake her guilt. "Here, let me take you to your dormitory."

"Thanks." said Albus, following her. "I was just trying to find the entrance when I arrived at a dead end and…" but Albus wasn't really sure what had happened next.

"The wall is the entrance. I was just leaving when I heard the wall make a cracking noise. I looked down and saw you laying there unconscious. From what I hear, that's the fifth time since the beginning of last year." she explained. "The password is Verde, by the way."

"All right, thanks." replied Albus, "How do you know all of this already."

"A lot of it I just learned during the feast, but some of it was from my mother who had been in Slytherin back when she was young." said Katherine.

"Cool. And what about your dad?" asked Albus.

Katherine turned to him with a sad look in her eye, "He was in Ravenclaw. He died last year."

"Oh, I-I'm sorry, I didn't-" stammered Albus.

But Katherine clearly did not want to talk about it. So she pointed to a door above them. "There, that's it. Good night." And she left swiftly, leaving Albus alone at the dormitory entrance.

Albus stepped through the door into a roaring round of applause.

"We got a Potter! We got a Potter!" several boys chanted as they started to dance around their beds. The room was nearly the same as the Gryffindor rooms were, except for different colors and beside each bed seemed to be an odd looking bedside chest with draws sprouting from the oddest spots and iron levers popping up around the drawers. The room was also made of completely white marble and had green tapestries running down the sides. The boys in the room were not completely Albus' age as he had expected, but it seemed as though the five other boys were each in a different year than each other.

"Here take this one," a boy Albus was sure was a fifth year pointed to one of the four-poster beds "we were going to give it to Malfoy, but seeing where he ended up…"

The boys continued to cheer as another one of the boys, a third year, pulled a case of Butterbeer out of the strange chest. He handed everyone a glass as Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans began to circulate the room.

The rest of the night was engulfed in laughter and conversation. The fifth year, apparently the oldest, was probably the most accommodating and introduced himself as Jayden Ross. The others were Brody Langford a stocky fourth year who had been the one to produce the Butterbeer, Braydon Doter, and a third year whose eyes were exceptionally cold compared to everyone else. He seemed to stare at Albus with a sort of unjustified hatred and was probably the only one of the group not to say much over the course of the night. A second year, Wyatt Toulson was probably the most talkative of the group, that is, had he not stuffed his mouth with every flavor of beans in the room, no matter what it tasted like. Finally there was Dominic Lancaster a fellow first year that seemed to be, aside from Jayden, the most willing to assist Albus.

As the night wore on, Albus finally realized how tired he was and decided to go to sleep. He was just getting into bed when he once again noticed the strange chest. He turned to ask Jayden what exactly it was only to find Jayden and the rest of his housemates fast asleep. Albus yawned and decided that it could wait until morning as he drifted off into the land of dreams.

The next morning, Albus grudgingly dragged himself to the Great Hall for breakfast. As he got there, Professor Slughorn, head of Slytherin House, handed him his schedule and a piece of parchment with a list of electives to choose from. He accepted it with thanks and sought out Rose and Luke. He found the two of them sitting at the Ravenclaw table. Ever since the Battle of Hogwarts, equality was exercised often at Hogwarts like in cases of house seating. They still existed but not enforced.

Rose looked up from her elective sheet to Albus. "Good Morning, Albus."

" 'Morning Rose, Luke." A bleary-eyed Albus replied.

"Oh, I just can't decide between Arithmancy and Magical Foundations and Fundamentals." Rose whined looking at her elective sheet.

"I don't know about you, but I'm going for Exploration of the Wizarding World." shrugged Luke "Sounds interesting."

Albus himself took a look at the sheet. At the top of the parchment read: "Choose four subjects to participate in for the coming year." The list was extremely long. After looking over the subjects Albus talked about them with Rose and Luke.

"Well, we have to take Care of Magical Creatures." said Rose.

"And who might we be?" asked Luke.

Albus laughed and signed up for Care of Magical Creatures and Exploration of the Wizarding World. He continued to look around the sheet until Luke suggested they take Dueling which Albus agreed to but Rose gave up in favor of Ancient Runes. Albus was still looking for a final subject.

"What about this one here," pointed Albus, "Magical Artifacts and Relics?"

"Of course!" Rose exclaimed, "I had forgotten about that, we simply must take it."

Luke glanced at Albus but he just shrugged.

"Remember? My parents and your dad came up with it as an additional class a couple of years ago. Your father always worked closely with whoever was teaching the class." said Rose to Albus.

"Oh, yeah. 'To enhance the knowledge of average and dangerous artifacts.' " Albus quoted his father as he remembered what Rose was talking about, "Still, seems like an interesting enough class." And the three of them signed up for their final elective.

The three than finished breakfast as they headed to their first class, all of which, Albus was sad to find, was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Down the halls he knew so well from his visits with his father to Hogwarts Albus sped. He was nervous to be in a class taught by his dad and did not wish to be late. Finally Rose, Luke, and him entered the room and took their seat. The remaining students finally shuffled into the room and sat down as Harry Potter walked down the steps from his office.

"Good Morning and welcome to your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class!" smiled Harry.

For so early in the morning, there was a lot of enthusiasm going around the room.

"Now to begin, can anyone tell me just what exactly is Defense Against the Dark Arts?" asked Harry.

A Ravenclaw girl raised her hand.

"Yes, miss-?"

"Krothers, sir, Ingrid Krothers. Defense Against the Dark Arts is using magical techniques to defend ourselves from dark magic and creatures."

"Not exactly what I was looking for, but close enough to the basic point. Five points for Ravenclaw." Harry said, "You answer is true, but this class so about more than that. It's about being aware. It about knowing what is out there. I will not lie to you, times are difficult and you need to know how to defend yourself. I had a teacher once who would always remind us- Constant Vigilance!"

"But sir," asked a Hufflepuff, "how do we know what is out there?"

Harry smiled and opened a bag that was resting on a desk near him. "I'm glad you asked." Harry waved his wand and images, diagrams, models, and even a few cadged creatures came out of the bag. "Take a good look around, Dark Wizards, Cursed objects, Dark Potions, Basilisks, Dementors, and so on. And these are only examples of the horrors of the magical world. It will be my job to teach you about these things and how to defend yourself from them. But for today, we will be reading from our books. Page twenty-two, if you will" The class opened _Intermediate Defensive Arts_.

"Professor, why are we starting in an intermediate level book?" asked the same Hufflepuff.

"Well, first off at Hogwarts, we now have the Combat Magic class which is essentially a branch of this class. In there is where you will be learning the basics of combat and if you signed up for the Dueling elective you will also learn in there. But in this class, we focus on more than just defense against wizards and witches, we need to learn about magic itself and the dark forms it takes. We will be learning a lot of spells but they deal with more advanced combat and protection against dark creatures and objects. The second reason is that magic in Hogwarts has been made…easier. Many of you may already know about the recent failures in magic, even the greatest of wizards will have trouble with magic. We don't know why this is happening, but in Hogwarts, certain measures have been taken to enhance student's magic in Hogwarts and help them retain it after they leave the school."

"If these measures were used for the school, then why can't it be used everywhere?" asked the Hufflepuff.

"Well, many of you probably know about the story of Lord Voldemort." Many of the students nodded but a few looked puzzled. "Don't worry. Professor Kinlan plans on going over recent history in his class, but for those who don't know, Lord Voldemort was one of the darkest wizards of all time that I…_helped _defeat."

"Are you kidding me? You single handily defeated him. You're the Chosen One, Uncle Harry!" called out Rose before realizing her mistake, "Er, I mean professor."

"Well," Harry shifted a little uncomfortably, "I had a lot of help." Rose rolled her eyes jokingly as Harry continued. "Anyways, in the final battle against him, I decided to…give myself up to him so he would stop attacking the people in Hogwarts."

"He let Voldemort kill him!" Rose called out.

"And I survived because of reasons you'll learn in History of Magic, probably in your seventh-year, I think. This created a special type of magic that protected the rest of the school from him. Does anyone know what that magic was?"

Rose raised her hand and said in almost a whisper, "Love."

"Yes, love. The same magic that saved me from the killing curse the first time. This protection still stands today and I believe is part of the reason the school acts as it does. So basically, the reason why we are starting on the intermediate level is because of Combat Magic class and the magical enhancement." Harry said. "Now, that that is settled, look in your book and we can start to learn about the origins of dark magic."

The rest of the class went on uneventfully. At the end of the class, Albus packed his stuff up and headed down to his next class.

The next few days went by rather quickly. Albus was down in the Slytherin common room doing his Transfiguration homework when Jayden patted him on the back.

"Time to go, Albus." he said.

"Time to go where?" asked Albus

"To where he asks." laughed a Slytherin girl named Or.

Jayden also laughed, "C'mon, to Quidditch tryouts!"

"Oh." Albus replied. "I don't think I'm going to go."

"Not going to go? But you have to! Everyone knows you have to be great at Quidditch, I mean look at your brother or your father."

And there it was. The reason Albus didn't want to be on the Quidditch team. His father. Everyone thought he was just like his father, but he wasn't. Or at least, that's what Albus told himself.

Jayden shrugged, "Fine, but remember what you are doing to your team."

Albus didn't even think about what Jayden had said and he returned to his work. An hour later, as Albus was nearly finished; a house elf came trotting up to him.

"Master Albus," the house elf who Albus knew to be Kreacher, an employee of the school and inherently the servant of Harry Potter. "A gift from your filthy half blood father." He held out a large package that Albus took from him.

"Thank you, Kreacher." Albus said. But as usual, Kreacher wore his same uncaring face and left the common room while muttering, "Filthy blood traitors, a disservice to the house of Black." as Albus had grown accustomed to.

Albus started to open it when a card fell out. "Couldn't wait to give you this. Good luck out there and make your mother and me proud."

Albus' eyes dropped in despair as he saw what the gift was. It was the Crimsonstrike 1000, the newest, best, and of course, most expensive broom on the market.


	6. Ensis Lapiss

_**Ensis Lapiss**_

"Calm down." Rose said firmly. She placed her hand down on Albus' tapping foot. It had not stopped moving since the beginning of lunch. Even on the way to Potions he wouldn't walk at his normal pace.

"I wish I could." Albus gritted through his teeth. He still didn't know how he would tell his father that he wasn't on the Quidditch team. He knew that his dad would say he was proud of him for trying but it was what would come after that, what would happen when he found out he hadn't even tried. And the Crimsonstrike 1000 didn't help his guilt. In fact, it was really the source of it.

"Good afternoon class," said Professor Slughorn "And welcome to another bright day in the dungeons."A few students politely laughed at Slughorn's joke. Slughorn pulled out several vials from the cabinet behind him. "Today we will be looking at potions that are used for external use. Here you see I have placed examples of such potions. Strengthening potion, Bubble Skin potion, Past Steps potion, and more. Today, we will be learning to make the simplest of these," he pointed to a small peach colored potion beside the others Slughorn had mentioned. "a Cover-Up potion. Simple and if I may say so, will be quite useful for some of you very soon."

A few genuine snickers came from the students as they opened up their books and began to brew their potion. Albus tried to work but his mind just kept wandering back to his father and the broom.

"Hey, Al," Luke said nearly half an hour later, "am I doing this correctly?"

Albus had barely heard him but after a couple of seconds he realized he had just been spoken to and said, "No, you need a Demiguise hair already in the potion before you put in the eyes."

Luke shrugged and continued to make the potion. Albus also tried to get back to work and with difficulty, managed to finish the potion just as class was ending. He then handed it to Slughorn who in turn gave out their homework.

Albus turned to Rose as they were leaving the room. "What do we have now?"

"I have Arithmancy. I don't know what you have now." Stated Rose as she headed off in the opposite direction.

Luke glanced down at the piece of parchment in his hand, "We have flying."

Albus groaned. Just what he needed. He wished he could just turn around and he go to his room. But Albus just sighed as he made his way out to the training grounds

After walking out of the dungeon, Albus finally found his way out onto the grounds and headed to the training grounds. Once he arrived there, he saw his classmates all lined up by the brooms that were lying on the ground and at the center of the row of students stood Karen Hooch, the flying instructor. Albus and Luke took their place at the end of the line as the last pair of students to enter the grounds.

"Welcome to your flying lesson." the middle-aged woman said sharply. "Now…."

But Albus was no longer listening. He was just looking at the broom at his feet. It seemed to be humming. He could feel it pulling towards his hand. Suddenly the broom flew from the ground into his hands.

"Potter!" yelled Madame Hooch "Just what do you think you are doing?"

Albus stared at the broom that had flown into his hand. He hadn't meant for the broom to come up. In fact, because of the broom that he had just received from his father, he hadn't even wanted to get near the broom, "But, I didn't- I mean it just- it came up to me, I didn't summon it."

"Don't make me laugh, Potter, brooms don't just fly into people's hands. They need to be called!" Madame Hooch replied.

Albus was about to respond when he saw that their instructor's attention had been turned elsewhere. The students began to pick up their brooms and start flying. Albus looked down at the mystifying broom, hopped onto it, and launched for the sky. On the broom he sped for the sky. The handle felt warm in his hand. As if it belonged there, as if…it was _meant _to be there. He flew around as fast as he could for what seemed like forever until the screaming voice of Madame Hooch pulled him back to Earth.

"Potter!" Madame Hooch began to yell "How dare you-"

"Madame Hooch," Albus spun around to see Jayden Ross holding up his hand, "there is no need. He was following his instinct; surely you of all people must understand what that means?"

Albus could tell Jayden had touched a sensitive subject as Madame Hooch gestured Jayden over to Albus. Jayden walked towards the spot where Albus was hovering over on his broom. Jayden looked Albus up and down and then, pulling down Albus and his broom to the ground, asked, "Permission to take him back?"

Madame Hooch was still fuming but relented to Jayden, "Fine."

Jayden walked Albus outside of the training grounds and down the path back to the entrance from which they had come to the grounds. For the first minute or so Jayden thoroughly examined the broom which Albus had ridden on before. Once he had finished, he turned to Albus and smiled, "It takes an extremely talented wizard to make a broom go faster than it should."

Albus looked down at the outdated Cleansweep Eleven. He didn't know what to say so he just nodded in acknowledgement and let him continue to speak.

"Why didn't you try out for the Quidditch team? Surely the team could have benefited from such a skilled player?" Jayden asked.

Albus was trying to think of an excuse when he realized he had no reason to lie to him, "My dad played Quidditch. I don't."

Jayden smiled with understanding, "I see. And you don't want to be like him."

Albus nodded with I sigh, "Yes."

Jayden scratched his head, "Well, I couldn't change the line up even if you wanted us to, I doubt even the captain could, but there is another team you might want to consider."

Albus looked puzzled. Another Quidditch team? A different sport? What could Jayden possibly mean?

"The Race team however didn't exist in your dad's day and could definitely benefit from a person with your skills."

Albus was confused. Race team? Since when had Hogwarts had a race team?

Jayden sensed Albus' confusion and explained to him, "The most recent team to be added to the school, Racing is the second most popular event in the school, passed only by Quidditch, which will always be the best. You in?"

Albus considered the question. True, it wasn't like his father nor did it rob him of the joys of flying a broom. And better yet Albus wouldn't have to tell his father that he couldn't use the expensive broom! He looked Jayden square in the face and said, "I'm in."

"Good, meet me at the Quidditch Pitch this Saturday to go over the basics of the sport." Jayden said

"Basics? It's racing. Just fly from one end to the other faster than everyone else." said Albus.

They had finally arrived at the door and were entering the castle as Jayden flashed him a crooked smile, "Oh, Albus, it's so much more than that." And he shut the door behind them.

Albus walked into his Defense Against the Dark arts class to see his dad walking out of his office with a giant smile on his face. Thirty minutes ago he wouldn't have been able to smile back, let alone make eye contact but now he flashed an even larger smile back in his father's direction. His father nodded and Albus knew that Harry would want to talk to him later. And so as the rest of the class filed in, the professor began to teach his lesson and Albus just listened and smiled.

Albus paid attention for the entire class but even so the class seemed to go by very quickly. As the class ended and the room was emptied of its students, Albus followed Harry up into his office. Harry looked around at the room. Beside the door stood a broom that Albus knew to be his father's Thunderbolt. Portraits of wizards and witches filled the room. Some of them, Albus recognized like the pictures of his grandfather, James Potter I and his best friend Sirius Black, who was currently leaning on Remus Lupin and his friend's wife, Lily. Others in the room included a picture of the entire Weasley family, including the late Fred and Charlie Weasley.

Harry headed over to his desk and sat down nearly right below an empty portrait. He poured himself a glass of firewhiskey and for Albus he conjured a glass of pumpkin juice. For a minute the two drank in silence before Harry finally motioned for Albus to speak.

Albus saw the gesture and said, "Thanks for the broom dad."

"What position?" asked Harry, nodding in acknowledgement the thanks he had just received.

"Actually, dad, I'm not on the Quidditch team." Albus saw his dad open his mouth to speak, but Albus quickly added, "I'm on the racing team."

Harry's smile widened, "Really?" Albus nodded and Harry just smiled more, "That's great, Al. Really terrific. Which team?"

Albus was confused, "Er, Slytherin's team?" he offered weakly.

Harry just laughed, "I don't know how much you know about competitive racing here at Hogwarts, but one of the reasons it's so popular is that the teams for Racing aren't divided by house. I'm sure you'll find out soon."

Albus grinned and took another swing at the pumpkin juice. As he put the drink back down, his eyes caught something in the corner that had recently been added to the office. He saw several complex items that Albus had absolutely no idea what they except for the Pensive that Harry had inherited from Professor Dumbledore but what really caught him was piece of stone. The stone was nearly flat slab a seemed the length of his palm. At the center of the slab of rock was a hole surrounded in jewels and in the center of the stone, in the hole, was a seemingly transparent sheet which seemed to wave slowly through the hole.

"_Ensis Lapiss,_" Albus looked up from the mystifying stone to see he had walked over to it and his dad now stood over his shoulder, "That's what Dumbledore called it."

"What is it?" Albus asked as he continued to study the magical object

Harry went around Albus and ran his fingers on several object on the shelves, "A while back, when the rest of Albus Dumbledore's will was discovered, many of his things were willed to me. Among them were many of the objects you see here now. This particular one you seem to have taken an interest in the most intricate and baffling objects I have."

"What does it do?" Albus asked.

"Ah, but that's the real question isn't it?" Harry picked up the stone and from under it, he pulled out old, faded sheets of parchment, "See these marking on the stone?"

Albus squinted and as he did, he saw that there were minuscule marking on most of the slab of rock.

"Ancient Runes. Dumbledore tried to translate them, but even he was not able to completely uncover their message." Harry explained.

"What do you mean he couldn't translate them? Why don't you just ask Aunt Hermione to translate it? She knows Ancient Runes." Albus asked.

"Because unlike normal Ancient Runes, these really, actually, _ancient_. Anyways, the object use is unknown. Even what Dumbledore found out is unclear. It seems as though many of his notes on the _Ensis Lapiss _are missing. All I can really tell you is that it's supposed to some sort of-er- intermediary between something that I don't know what it is, and another thing that Dumbledore refers to in his remaining notes as, 'the Wound in the Magick.'" Harry explained to Albus.

But Albus was barley listening. The slab of stone had him completely fixed on it. It seemed as though he couldn't take his eyes off the object. He just had to keep staring at it. Just keep staring…

Harry pulled Albus back a little, "Better not to dwell on things that are beyond us. Come, dinner will be starting soon."

Albus nodded, tearing his focus away from the _Ensis Lapiss _and headed out the door. He looked back at his dad and asked, "You coming?"

"I'll be right there. Now where is that damn cloak?" Harry said to himself as Albus opened the door and left.

As Albus left the office, he realized he forgot to ask his father a question he had had earlier on his Defense Against the Dark Arts homework. As began to open the door he saw his dad with his back facing the wall across from the door. He seemed to be talking with…something. After a minute he turned to reveal the empty portrait Albus had seen over Harry's desk earlier. He then saw Harry stride over to the Pensive that had once belonged to Dumbledore. His hand passed over several vials in the cabinet of memories beside the Pensive until his landed on one. He picked it up, uncorked it, and poured it into the bowl that lay next to the assortment of vials. Harry stared to lean into the Pensive when Albus looked over his shoulder to see the door to the classroom opening. He looked back into the office at his father to see he was gone and then back at the now opened door that a smiling Luke had just stepped through.

"How'd it go?" Luke asked.

Albus picked up his bag and walked with Luke back out the door, "C'mon, I'll tell you on the way to dinner."


	7. Phoenix Rising

**Phoenix Rising**

Albus picked up his Crimsonstrike 1000. The broom seemed to be completely perfect, right down to the last twig. Along the handle, red glowing letters spelled out the name of the broom. No one could help but be jealous of it as Albus sensed Jayden Ross was.

Albus and Jayden had gathered on the Quidditch Pitch several weeks later, contrary to Jayden's original request to meet the Saturday after he recruited Albus. The morning was a cold one. It had been raining the previous night and it seemed as though snow would soon be on its way. But none of this mattered to Albus as the excitement of racing coursed through him.

"Now the games always begin here," began Jayden, pointing at the Quidditch field with his wand, "The field's enchanted to show the people in the stands the race. The course changes every time, so you always need to be careful to stay on course or you'll be disqualified."

Albus looked down at the field, trying to imagine it displacing a race in progress, "Disqualified?"

Jayden nodded, "Yes, there are four racing teams. Each of them, like Quidditch has seven players. Two players on the team do not compete as part of the race, but fly on the side hurling Bludgers and spells at the Racers. These are also called the Beaters. Another player, the Barrier, is responsible for keeping spells away from the last four, the actual racers. These Racers, who depending on their team, are called by different names, aim to finish the race before anyone else."

"But there are eight players competing to get to the end," Albus stated "why isn't there just one per team?"

"Because in this sport, the Beaters are much more of a challenge because they can cast spells. If a player gets hit by a spell or Bludger and loses control of his broom and flies off the track, he is out of the game. Also, the players may also cast spells, although they are limited to certain spells. Usually towards the end of the game, there are only one or two Racers still flying to the finish line."

Albus smiled. It seemed like a simple sport. And exciting. But he did still have one question, "So, what can you tell me about the teams?"

Jayden thought for a minute and then said, "Ah, yes, well out of the four racing teams, each of them is led by a wizard or witch who has already finished their Wizarding education."

"Why?"

Jayden shrugged, "Makes it more interesting, no doesn't it? Although the teams aren't divided by house, by coincidence, the four teams are each led by people from different houses this year. The four teams are the Flying Hippogriffs, the Dashing 'Sticks, the Striking Demiguise, and the Rising Phoenixes."

Albus scrunched his face, "Who came up with those names."

Jayden laughed, "Your guess is as good as mine."

Albus also laughed, "So which team am I on?"

"Well, I would recommend you for the Striking Demiguise but I know of another team you might want to consider." Jayden pointed back over to an opening in the stands where Albus saw his brother, James Potter, walk onto the field.

"I'll take it from here, Ross." James said.

"Gladly," he said to James and he turned to leave.

"Albus, Jayden told me you one hell of a flyer?" James asked his little brother.

Albus shrugged and said, "I guess so."

"Excellent, now normally the Rising Phoenixes try to stay mostly Gryffindor, but I think we can find a place for you." James said.

"Wait, wait, I though all the teams are mixed?"Albus asked.

"Well, they are supposed to be but after the first few years of Racing at Hogwarts, the Gryffindor House realized that there was too much conflict among ourselves so it was decided that the Quidditch team would also be the Racing team and no other Gryffindor would take part on the other teams. Unfortunately, ever year the Quidditch captain does not take part so the outside captain can be part of the team. Also, usually there are one or two people who don't join the team. That's where you come in." James extended his hand out to Albus, "On behalf of the Rising Phoenixes, let me be the first to welcome you to the team."

Theodor Kraushaar, the teacher of Magical Artifacts and Relics, walked up to the head of the classroom. His hand brushed over his gray goatee before turning to face the students, "Now who here can tell me what 14th century magical researcher Sir Ronald Yiri says about the fundamental nature of all magical objects?"

Albus nudged Rose whose hand was already up in the air and asked, "Wait, when did we learn that?"

Rose whispered back, "It was part of our homework; if you had ever tried to do it you would know that."

Albus looked at Luke who not unlike him, didn't know the answer and saw him just shrug in his direction.

"Miss Weasley?" Kraushaar called.

"Sir Yiri says that all powerful magical items are originated from pure magic. He says that only wizards and witches who learn to tap into the pure essence of magic can make such powerful objects. He says all artifacts that manipulate nature as magic does are from pure magic and can be broken back down into pure magic."

"Excellent answer, ten points for Gryffindor. Sir Yiri teaches us that there is nothing in the magical world that isn't the same thing. Also as Miss Weasley said, he says that all objects can be broken down back into magic, although as it says in the next chapter, what he is saying is unknown as no one has ever been known to do anything along the lines of Sir Yiri's theory." Kraushaar explained. "Now then can anyone tell me why things like wands and brooms can be easily made?"

Rose raised her hand but Kraushaar said, "Can anyone _besides Miss Weasley _tell me why?"

Another Gryffindor, a third year who Albus knew through James as Danika Doyle, raised his hand and said, "Because according to Sir Yiri, this only applies to the more powerful objects."

"Using the words from the text to find the answer? Mr. Doyle, that's exactly what this class is about, fifteen points to Gryffindor. Yes, Sir Yiri implies that the less powerful objects whose abilities are limited do not require such magic to be created, however he does not say what objects constitute as powerful or not."

Albus listen carefully to Kraushaar's speech. As he listened he thought of the objects he saw in his father's office, most prominently among them the _Ensis Lapiss _which had captured Albus' interest. If a man like Dumbledore had trouble figuring out what it was, who knows what power it could hold? And who could have created it if it took such raw, powerful magic? Albus raised his hand to ask Kraushaar if he knew anything about it.

"Yes, Mr. Potter?" Kraushaar asked.

"Professor, what do you know about-" but Albus didn't finish his question as a loud boom like a cannon erupted from the halls. The entire class jumped from their seas to see what had happened. As they came out into the hall they saw that columns from the sides of the hall had cracked and fallen. Rock seemed to jut out from the ground in jagged forms. Crevasses had formed in the ground; some seemed to go so far down without an end. Students from other rooms also stumbled onto the horrible sight. The hall burst with chatter as Headmistress Ravensddole entered and tried to calm everyone down. Albus was looking around for Luke when he saw Rose begin to get dangerously close to the nearest crevasse to try and get a peak at how far down it went. Albus rushed over just as he saw Rose start to trip straight into the crevasse. Albus ran over as he heard Rose begin to scream. His pushed off one of the stones that had jutted up from the ground and lunged to reach Rose's hand. He reached it just as she he had left the surface. He grabbed her arm and pulled with all his might to pull his cousin up from below the earth. Harder and harder he pulled as his resolve to save Rose grew stronger. Finally he gave a last strong tug and brought Rose up. For the first few seconds, the two off them just sat there and caught their breaths. After a moment, Rose flung herself onto Albus and thanked him.

Albus smiled as he returned the hug, "Hey, what are cousins for?"

Rose let go of Albus and the two of them started to laugh but were interrupted by a wide eyed, shaking Harry Potter, "Albus, Rose, come here, you need to see this."


	8. Destruction

**Destruction**

Albus ran behind his father as they along with Rose and Luke away from the torn hall. It wasn't the look on his father's face of wide eyed resentment and an underlying fear that told Albus something was wrong, but it was the voice of his father, shaky and torn, struggling to escape his mouth that told him something was wrong. Even as they entered new hallways, the torn floor and the protruding stones from the grounds continued, although considerably less damage. Albus hadn't even been paying attention to the run and was quite surprised to find him entering Harry's classroom. Albus would have expected the classroom to normal as Professor Kraushaar's had been but in fact, it was even worse than the halls. With the exception of a few corners, the floor was entirely gone and the ceiling had partially caved in.

As they entered Harry put his arms in front of Albus and his friends as well as Professors, McGonagall, Hagrid, Kinlan, and Ravensddole. Cautiously he raised his wand and said in something that was nearly a whisper, "_Solumus._"

A dark spot in the center of the floor appeared and diffused among most of the endless hole in the floor. Rose, who being Rose of course knew what the spell did, was about to take a step forward on the makeshift ground when Harry stopped her. As he pulled Rose back he took a small stone from the ruined hall and threw it onto the spell's ground. The moment the stone touched it, the black ground instantly shattered like glass.

"This disaster wasn't caused by any normal means of magic." Ravensddole observed.

"No," said Harry, "Dark magic, very dark magic indeed. I was only able to get out of my class right before the whole ground fell in."

"What, Harry, is the meaning of this?" asked McGonagall.

But instead of answering the asked question, Harry responded, "Someone, get Floo powder and summon a fire, quickly!"

McGonagall conjured a human sized wall of fire and Kinlan grabbed a small pouch attached to his pants. He held it up for everyone to see and declared, "Floo powder, never know when you'll need a quick getaway."

Albus was about to open his mouth to ask why apparition wouldn't be his means for an escape when Rose cut him off, "Wait, Uncle Harry, a conjured fire can't be connected to the Floo network, can it?"

Even in his rush Harry looked at his niece and smiled, "Good question. Technically it isn't connected to the Floo network, but this is a technique I developed for the Auror department a few years ago. I'm not going to explain the specifics but basically the spell is casted and a fire appears that can be used for Floo transportation. It is not actually connected to the Floo Network but unless you have a clear mental image of where you are going, then the Floo will not send you to your proper destination."

Albus nodded, pretending really that he understood as Kinlan handed Harry the Floo powder. Harry threw the powder in, said his office and disappeared into the flames. The teachers began to follow suit until only Albus, Rose, and Luke were left.

"Should we go, is it really safe?" Luke asked.

Albus frowned. He himself wasn't sure if they should go, it might be too dangerous, what if the office had no floor two and the teachers had all fallen down.

"Oh, honestly" Rose said, "Don't be such babies." And she grabbed them both by the collar and the three of them jumped into the flames.

For a second everything was dark. Dark, but for the split second in between entering and exiting the fire there was a certain comfort or warmth in the fire. Then light reappeared as the three friends were spat out onto the floor.

Luke groaned a bit. Albus looked over to see he had fell on his head instead of his back like Rose and Albus had. "That's going to hurt later." he said.

"Sorry," Harry began to help the three of them up, "like I said it's kind of complicated and there are still quite a few kinks to work out."

"So, Harry, why'd yeh bring us 'ere?" asked Hagrid.

But Albus already knew the answer. Down at their feet the same wavy transparent sheet that Albus had only seen once before was floating down at their feet. Across the floor was broken pieces of stone and several Dragons' Fire jewels and Goblin Theft ornaments broken into little pebbles. Albus knew what had happened.

Destruction.

Destruction of the _Ensis Lapis_.

In a second Harry had grabbed Albus by the shoulders in his shaking hands and asked, "Albus no one but the staff who I trust completely and you knew about this, did you tell anyone about this?"

Albus was afraid. What had come over his father? "Just Luke!" he nearly screamed.

Harry then turned on Luke who replied nearly as loud and nearly as frightened as Albus, "I didn't tell a soul!"

"It's gone." Harry turned and looked at the teachers like the world was ending, "Come, let us go to the Headmistress' office."

"Why not just do it here?" asked Ravensddole.

Harry turned to his child and his friends, "Minerva, to their dorms?"

McGonagall nodded and Harry muttered the incantation once more and three separate fires appeared. After being given Floo powder the three of them headed towards the fire.

"Al," whispered Luke so only the two of them could hear, "what do you suppose they are doing?"

Albus threw the powder in the fire and shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine." And he stepped into the fire once more.

And then everything went black.

"Albus? C'mon wake up already!" said a familiar voice in the darkness, "Oh, won't you just wake up?"

Albus stirred in the bed. He rose up and rubbed his eyes as the room came into focus. In front of him was his brother, shaking Albus' knee.

"Finally, your awake!" exclaimed James.

"Ugh, what happened?" Albus said groggily.

"Dad's spell went wrong; you were knocked out in the fire and spat out unconscious last night." James explained.

"Last night?" Albus gasped.

"Yeah, and dad says he's sorry he can't be here but he has a class to teach. I myself have a free period so I thought I'd check on you while I had a chance." said James.

And that was when the events of the previous night came flooding back into Albus' memory. As he looked around he even saw some cracks here in the hospital wing. As he thought about what had happened, he realized that he didn't know what had become of Luke or Rose.

"What about-" Albus began

As if sensing what Albus was going to say, James replied, "They are fine. Their fires worked out normally."

Albus, relieved, fell back into his bed.

"Better not get to comfortable; you'll be out by lunch, I expect." James laughed, "Probably a good thing too."

"Why?"

"Did you forget about our first Racing match in two days?"

Albus had indeed forgotten. "Oh."

"Oh? So, you did forget. Yes, so we need to keep on practicing if we are to win. No sleep, no rest, just practice if we want victory!"

But Albus had already returned to his peaceful sleep.

That morning, Albus hadn't eaten a thing. It had been two days since he was let out of the hospital wing. Since then, he had been to four practices plus another one only three hours before the sun rose. Not only was he dead tired from nonstop drills and practice matches, but he had more homework than average from his missed class work. All in all, he really hadn't slept for more than about four hours in the last two days.

Today was the big day. No one except the racing team, Luke, Rose, Jayden, even knew about what the Phoenixes were calling their "secret weapon." His father, the only other person who knew, had even convinced his mother to come down because it was the first Quidditch match of the season for James.

"Al, what's wrong?" asked Rose who had decided to come over with Luke and sit with Albus at the Slytherin table.

"Nervous." Albus said.

"Don't worry. At my first football match back home I was nervous too, but I made it through and I scored the first goal!" Luke reassured him.

Albus held up a crumpled sheet of parchment for Luke to see. "No offense Luke, but I think racing on flying brooms, shooting and avoiding spells and Bludgers might be little more complicated than football."

Rose took Albus' parchment and looked it over, "You had to learn all these spells? It has been only two weeks since you first joined the Rising Phoenixes!"

"I know and these aren't even all the spells, just the basics. And if that wasn't bad enough, the spells I learned aren't even the focus of the game. James said that the time spend casting spells is dwarfed by the actually racing." Albus complained.

The three friends fell silent for a long time until Rose looked over at Albus and inquired, "Shouldn't you be eating something?"

Albus just looked down. He was too nervous to eat. He was about to glance up to respond when he felt a small tap on his shoulder. It was James.

"We've got your gear and broom down in the locker rooms, let's go." James whispered.

Albus nodded. He glanced back at the staff table where his parents and his sister Lily were all seated and followed James out of the Great Hall. He'd show them. He'd show everyone. He'd show them that he wasn't Harry Potter's son.

He's Albus Potter.

Albus finished strapping on his gloves when Hektor Millings, one of the Beaters, called the rest of the team over.

"Well he's been away on business but was able to finally return to us for our first race. Our captain-" as Hektor said the word Albus realized he hadn't even stopped to ask who the captain was, just taking in the fact that the captain would be coming, "Ted Lupin!"

A roar came from the team as the man who had wandered into Albus' house so many times that he was practically family entered the tent.

"Sorry I've been away but now I'm back!" Teddy grinned, "Now tell me, who's going to win the Racing Championship this year?" Albus joined the team in bellowing of the team name as Teddy continued, "Now finished up, get your stuff, and let's head out."

Albus brushed pass the final Racer, Antigone Cyon, to talk to Teddy. As he got there he did his routine check on what he looked like now. Teddy was a Metamorphmagus and was constantly changing his appearance. Today he had changed his hair to the team colors, orange and red and also added a bit of muscle onto his tanned skin to make his strength slightly obvious from under his uniform.

"Albus, how have you been?" Teddy asked.

"Great, I didn't know you were the captain?" Albus asked.

"Neither did I!" Teddy laughed jokingly.

"So where have you been, I thought you were working for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?" Albus asked.

"Well, I've been working at the Hogsmeade location for a while now and George decided it's time I move up in the ranks of the business and put the O.W.L for the elective I took, Foreign Wizardry and Relations, and put it to work." Teddy began.

Albus vaguely remembered the elective from the first day, "All right, so what happened?"

"Well now that has five different locations throughout Europe, he figures it's about time they expand onto other continents. So he sent me to New York in the United States of America to try and get a place in their equivalent of our Diagon Alley, Rockefeller Underground."

"And?"

"Their very strict there because as it has here more and more muggles are discovering our society, so tomorrow I will return and see if we can get a spot."

Albus nodded. He couldn't believe how big a success Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes had become. They were even expanding all the way over the ocean. Albus continued to be amazed but cut the thought short as he realized it was about time to go. He walked over and picked up his broom and put his wand up his sleeve and headed towards the exit. He went to the end of a line headed by one of the Beaters, Gideon Malkovich and started to walk out of the tent.

As Albus looked ahead over the shoulder of the Barrier, Ceara Fisher, he heard the screams of the students in the stands, excited for the match, and as he looked on to the opening in the stands where they would come out off the sun blinded him as he heard a loud voice welcome everyone to the first race of the season.


	9. Opening Match

**Opening Match**

"_And welcome to the first Race of the year!_"the words that had been spoken by Clarke Dewhurst, the student announcer from Gryffindor rang in Albus' head. It wasn't until the sun cleared from his eyes and the field came into view that Albus realized his knees were shaking. His teeth followed suit as his hands violently shook the broom in his hand.

"Hey," Albus looked back at his brother, who was speaking to him, 'it'll be all right."

Albus wasn't really convinced, "Do you remember your first match?"

"Yeah, I had been really unprepared because I had been practicing for Quidditch which took place the following week."

"You were unprepared?" Albus asked thinking of his own, somewhat similar, predicament "How'd it go?"

"Well, that match was about….half an hour long, so seeing as I lasted about ten of those minutes and ended up with only to fractured bones I'd say pretty good."

Albus' knees buckled, "Yeah, thanks."

"First up," boomed Dewhurst's voice, "From the mighty tower of the Ravenclaw to the dark dungeons of Slytherin, winner of the Racing Competition for the last six years, here is the Striking Demiguise!"

On the other side of the field seven students clad in silver flew out into the field as their names were called off by Dewhurst. Once the seven were all out in the open, they each pointed their wands to the sky and spiraled around each other as they as flew in a corkscrew to the sky. Once they were well off the ground they broke their corkscrew and flew off in different directions, each of them sprouting a long silvery wave from their wands. They finished by landing shoulder to shoulder by the stands that had their colors donned on.

"And now, the only team to be composed of a single house, the Rising Phoenixes!" the crowd burst into applause as Dewhurst continued, "First, returning for his final season, Gideon Malkovich! And, the second Beater, Hektor Millings! Now back for her second year as the team's Barrier, Ceara Fisher!" After each name was called a loud applause broke out in the crowd.

Albus was about to mount his broom with shaking legs when Teddy Lupin stepped forward and pulled Albus back, "Best for last." He winked.

"Next up your Racers! First up, returning back to field after a fantastic season as runner-up in last year's tournament, James Potter!" a louder applause then previous erupted from the stands.

"Now, making her first sports appearance here at Hogwarts, Antigone Cyon! And for his second season as Team Captain or, as I'm sure most of the students, especially those third year and up, will know him as, an employee for Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes," a loud chorus of snickering was heard among all the students in attendance, "Ted Lupin!"

A loud, but short applause came from the crowd. They were all waiting for the last player. The player that had been kept a secret for so long. "Now, the man that the Rising Phoenixes had kept as such a deep secret I am only just finding out now."

"The secret weapon,"

Albus mounted his broom,

"the newest member to the team,"

Albus leaned forward and grabbed the broom handle,

"witches and wizards, please welcome,"

Albus began to fly out from under the stands,

"Albus. Severus. Potter!" The audience erupted in screams and cheers as Albus fly around the stands, even getting close enough to give a few high-fives as James had instructed him to in a previous practice. He saw a ton a hopeful and excited faces ready for the match to commence. He was even able to see his cousins Victoire and Lucy Weasley cheering him on in the stands. As he made a final lap around the Pitch, he saw his mothers wearing a mixture of surprise and thrill as both she, Harry who was looking at Albus with reassurance, and his little sister Lily who was squealing with joy and elation. He took in their reactions and with self confidence fly back to the center to where his team had met up with the other.

Madame Hooch walked in between the teams and pointed with her wand to the sky where she conjured a checkered line, obviously instructing the teams to go up there. The stadium had gone silent as the ground that was several yards below him slowly started to shift, the very grass was moving like as if they had minds of their own, and change colors until it resembled the handshake between Ted Lupin and the Striking Demiguise's captain, Marcus Flint, a behemoth of a man who Albus vaguely remembered from a story his dad had told him about a Quidditch match.

"The track has been laid out before you." Madame Hooch said, "Anything outside the golden boundaries is considered a disqualification from the game. Now," she pointed her wand down towards the ground as the racers lined up on the line, "On your mark, get set, fly!"

Madame Hooch sent a smoky blast past the players they all leaned forward and blasted off into the sky. Albus leaned down on his broom to let Hektor and Gideon past him, as they left the boundaries to take their position as the only players who could leave the borders, the Beaters. As Albus pulled back up, he saw that the fog from Madame Hooch's spell had finally cleared and he also could see that, to his horror, the other Racers had already sped past him and were way ahead of him.

Albus gripped his broom. He was no longer frightened; he knew that whether it be here or down by the stands, flying atop a broom was where he was meant to be. "Let's see what this broom can really do." He muttered. Immediately, the Crimsonstrike 1000 responded to him as it increased its speed and accelerated back into the game.

In a matter of seconds, Albus had rejoined the swarm of racers following right behind Jayden Ross and Teddy Lupin, who both seemed to intentionally be flying behind the others. He looked around for Ted Lupin who he suspected might have a better idea of where this match would be taking them. Once he spotted him he flew over to him.

"Hey," Albus shouted in the wind, "do you know where we are going?"

Teddy shook his head, "Not a clue. Take my advice; these races are usually pretty calm for the first couple of minutes, it's when we get to the obstacles that we need to start worrying."

Albus was confused, "Obstacles? What obst-" but at that moment Ted made a sharp turn upwards into the sky. Albus looked for a moment at him and then looked forward to see why he had left but as he did, he saw it was too late. They had reached one of Hogwarts' towers and he was about to crash into it.

Albus frantically thought of the spells he had to learn and racked his brain for one that could help him. "I've got it!" he yelled to himself, "_Resilio!_"

As he screamed the spell into the air, his broom was almost at the wall of the tower, but as he pointed crossways to the tower with his wand, he bounced back in the air and flew backwards towards the sky. Within a second, he positioned himself forwards heading into the air as he realized he had faced one of the obstacles that Teddy had warned him about.

He was back in last place, but as the path for the race led him through large open double doors and into the castle, he realized that he might still have a chance. Once again he increased his speed and caught up with the others once he turned a corner into one of the castle's hallway, one which, Albus quickly observed, he also been affected by the destruction of the _Ensis Lapis_ in that there were missing pieces of the ground and a large chunk of a column had split off to form a spire in the middle of the hallway, which Albus was quick to dodge.

Now that Albus had returned to the racers, he suddenly found himself caught in a firefight. The four Beaters were sending Bludgers and spells everywhere while the Barriers were flying in a whirl trying to protect the players. The Racers themselves were also flinging their own brands of magic at each other.

"We've lost our Barrier!" Ted shouted. Albus looked down to see that Ceara had crashed into the door of a classroom below. "Tighten up! Tighten up!" The team huddled together in a big clump as the race led them flying straight up another tower. As they flew, Albus saw Racing fans on the stairs against the tower walls, cheering them on, and to his dismay he saw his brother crashed on one of the flights of stairs. His broom was right under him and another Racer of the other team who Albus suspected must have crashed into James. Albus almost flew back down to help his brother when he heard Teddy calling him to keep going.

As they continued their ascension, Albus noticed that the tower was narrowing out. At this point both teams had one Beater and three Racers left. As the tower finished narrowing out and ended, there was only room for one person at a time to fly out the end. Albus was leading and flew out of the tower through the single person hatch, after that flew Braydon Doter and behind him Marcus Flint. As Flint flew out he pointed his wand back down at the hatch that the Racers had come out of and yelled, "_Colloportus!_" sealing the hatchway shut and trapping the other five players in the tower, cutting them off from the race.

Only the three remained and of those three, Albus was the only one who could seize victory for the Rising Phoenixes.

From the hatchway of the tower, the remaining Racers followed the pre-laid path in a sharp dive down the side of the tower. As they sped down at speeds that hadn't previously seemed possible on brooms, Albus saw Marcus Flint begin to draw his wand. Knowing that he wouldn't lat so long without Beaters and the Barrier to protect him, Albus drew his own wand and quickly contemplated what spell to use to protect him.

"_Liro_ -" Flint began.

"_Versatum!_"Albus yelled. The spell hit Flint before he finished his spell. Flint's broom began to spin like a top and led Flint crashing into the side of the tower and off his broom. He began to fall when he once again brandished his wand and spoke the incantation of one of the sport's illegal spells, "_Expelliarmus_!"

Albus was straightening out as he and Braydon reached the ground when the Flint's spell hit Albus. Albus' wand flew out of his hand and down into the oblivion passing below him.

Braydon saw what had happened to Albus and grinned. Well, smirked really. "You have nowhere to go Potter, give it up!" he yelled over the wind.

Albus was right next to Braydon as he looked over to answer him, "Forget it, Braydon."

Braydon smirked again and flew his broom upwards away from Albus when he realized he hadn't really been telling him to forfeit the game, he was using that as a ploy to distract Albus from the path ahead.

He was on a collision course for one of Hogwarts' stone viaducts.

He had no time to stop. Above him on the viaduct's walkway, students were screaming. They had seen that Albus was out of control and was about to hurt himself or one of the students.

Suddenly time seemed to slow down as Albus felt himself falling into a deep sleep, yet at the same time still moving and seeing everything that was going on. He saw his hand move itself and heard the spell, "_Paellio_!" come from his mouth and push the students on the bridge to the side in the actual castle. He then saw, still in slow motion, his hand lift and heard his mouth shout, "_Sectumspissus_!" and saw right before he hit it, the bridge crack in front of him, straight down the middle, and fall down to the ground far below. As he saw it fall he heard the cry of anguish from Braydon and Albus saw Braydon shoot him a look somewhere between a look of anger and shock right before disappearing beneath the stone of the bridge

And that's when he came back to his senses. Time returned to the norm and his actions were once again under Albus' direct control. He gripped his broom and began to accelerate again. Soon, the finish line, the same place where the race had begun, came into view. He soared in past the finish line to a thunderous applause, louder than any he had heard before the race.

From above the stands, Albus could see the entire scene. Everyone was jumping up and down, cheering, screaming, and crying with joy (and few with sadness). He saw a large mass of red and orange screaming Albus' name who he knew could only be all the Weasley's and next to them, or in particular, next to his mother stood a man with jet black hair, rounded glasses, and green eyes remarkably similar to Albus. It was the man that Albus had once called his father but now he was more than that because Albus was no longer just the famous Harry Potter's son, he truly was for the first time in his life Albus Potter.

As he reached the ground, the entire team who had returned to the field after being knocked out of the race lifted him off his hovering broom and carried him up on top of their shoulders. They cheered his name as the Rising Phoenixes took the first triumph of the season. Into the joyous crowd they went, and Albus disappeared into a sea of victory.

After wishing his mother and sister a goodnight and farewell as they departed for home, Albus was invited to stay the night in Gryffindor Tower to celebrate the win for the team. Albus took up the invite for he saw it as an opportunity to avoid Jayden and Braydon who would be probably pretty steamed if he returned to the Slytherin dungeons. After a long night of eat and drink and celebration, the common room had finally cleared out except for Albus, Rose, and a few other students doing homework or finishing up their drinks.

"All right," said Teddy Lupin who was staying the night before heading back to London and from there to New York in order to represent Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, "I'm heading up, 'night Albus."

"Good night." Albus responded.

"Oh, I almost forgot, here's you wand back." Ted handed him the retrieved wand and headed upstairs.

Rose looked over Albus. He saw her examining his face, another one of Rose's rather annoying habits. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Albus examined his wand, "So you know how at the end of the match, I won by splitting the bridge in half?"

"Yes, it was amazing."

"But what you probably didn't see was that at the time I didn't have my wand. That's why Teddy had to give me mine back." Albus said.

"What do you mean?"

"I cast those spells without a wand." Albus explained.

Rose's eyes narrowed, "That's some seriously powerful magic. Even with the magical enchantments of Hogwarts, most grown wizards can't do that."

"But it was more than just that. It was like I wasn't even controlling my actions. It was as if some power was driving my actions. Some internal power that not only helped, but told my entire body, my being what to do to win the race."

"Albus, I think you should tell someone about this." Rose advised.

"No, I better not, they'll just think I'm a nutter." Albus said.

"Albus-" Rose began.

"I know what I'm doing, okay?"

Rose groaned impatiently and left to go to sleep, "Fine, you can do things your way."

Albus looked back down at his wand. The intertwined Phoenix and Basilisk cores made it a weapon to be reckoned with, but still didn't explain why Albus was able to cast such powerful magic on his own. He thought for what seemed like hours until he fell asleep under the golden sunlight that had began to peak through the scarlet blinds of the Gryffindor common room.


	10. Snake Eyes

**Snake Eyes**

"I know I'm new to this, but I am fairly certain that's impossible." Luke said.

"Yeah, well you try telling that to the old hag, Rita Skeeter." Albus replied.

It was Sunday afternoon and Albus who hadn't fallen asleep until dawn was just getting up. He and Luke had decided to go down to Hagrid's but upon arrival had found a note from Hagrid saying he was out in the forest caring for Arista, the eldest of Aragog's kin. So, the two of friends decided to just walk around, waiting for an idea of what to do to pop in their heads.

"I can't believe they're making you do that." Luke said.

"I swear that look on Ravensddole's face made it seem like she was getting some sort of satisfaction out of it." Albus said.

"Well, I'm telling you, if she finds out that you did magic without a wand..."

"Well, no one else seemed to notice, but Skeeter seems to have a way of finding out things people don't want her to know." Albus stated.

"What time do you have to meet her at?" asked Luke.

"Tonight at eleven." Albus.

"Well, good luck," Luke laughed.

Albus sighed, "I'm going to go see if Rose will let me copy her History of Magic essay, you want to come with?"

Luke started to run ahead of Albus towards the castle, "Have you ever known me do my own work?"

Albus walked the horrid walls of the castle's second-floor. He hadn't any choice and if it were up to him he'd be up in Gryffindor Tower still, however Rita Skeeter had convinced the school to somehow get him for an interview. Past the bloody stains that had frustrated Argus Filch for years since it was spread across the walls in his father's days he walked towards the classroom that had been set up for the interview.

As he entered the dark room he noticed that the journalist hadn't yet arrived. While he was waiting he thought again about the mysterious power he had displayed at the Racing match. He wondered, would it be possible to do that again? Could he do this mysterious wandless magic once more? He closed his eyes and under his breath he murmured, "_Lumos_."

He opened his eyes to see a faint light hovering at his fingertips. So he could do it again. He was about to go in for a closer examination when he heard someone walk in. He quickly put out his light and turned to see a beaming Rita Skeeter enter the room. She was as she had been in pictures of herself from a couple of years ago that Albus had seen. Same stiff blond hair, same claw like nails, same rhinestone glasses that glistened a little even in the dim light and she smiled a devilish grin, exposing her few golden and gleaming white teeth. Her face looked a little more wrinkled, but Albus figured she must have a ton of magical cosmetics in her crocodile-skin handbag to keep herself looking much younger than she really is. She walked over to Albus and without a word sat down in a chair across from him and took out an acid green quill and a long sheet of parchment. Finally, she adjusted her glasses and leaned in closer than Albus felt comfortable with, "Hello, Albus, dear."

"Hullo," Albus leaned back uncomfortably.

"Well, let's get right down to it, shall we? So, apparently you're the new Racing star here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She said.

"Yes."

"Well I think that's just fabulous." Rita said, "Now, I can ask you about the match and the aftermath and how you felt later, what I want to know is how you explain this." She reached into her handbag and pulled out a moving picture. It was of Albus pushing aside students and splitting the stone bridge in half without the aid a wand. "Well?"

"How did you get that?" Albus demanded.

"Well, I was passing in through Diagon Alley when I dropped by the _Daily Prophet_'s main office. Well, I went in and naturally, the chief sports Quidditch correspondent of the paper, your mother, was standing around with some of her colleges talking and I heard her mention that she was going to your brother Quidditch match which surprised her because she wasn't being sent there. In fact, she hadn't even heard about it until your father told which made no sense that the paper wasn't telling her to go cover the match. So, naturally I figured there might be a story to find out about, but I was busy on another assignment, so I sent one of my photographers and he brought me back this picture. Well, imagine my surprise when I found out that it had been you competing in a Race and my even greater surprise at what was going on in the picture," Rita spun the picture in front of Albus.

Albus was nervous. He knew he couldn't reveal the truth, she published that he was some sort of nutter that needed to be locked up, "Well, you may not know it, but Hogwarts' new magical boundaries have had spell enhancing effects these last few years."

Rita leaned her face farther in and said, "Not that, you didn't have a wand with you. My photographer says he saw you lose it about a minute before this picture was taken."

"Really," Albus' left eyebrow lifted and he pulled out his wand from his pocket, "Then how do you explain this?"

Rita's jaw dropped, "There's no way you could have that."

Albus laughed, "Who's the nutter now, huh?"

Just then a loud boom, as if the sound barrier had been broken within the halls of Hogwarts castle, erupted from nearby. Both he and the phony journalist forgot their confrontation and jumped out of their seats and out the door. As they ran down the halls, they arrived at a doorway where an echo of the noise seemed to remain. It was the girls' lavatory. THE girl lavatory, where the horror of past times lie still. Albus dashed through the wet floors into the bathroom. As he arrived he saw the sinks were all crushed together. On top of the destroyed taps lay many small little pieces of wood.

Albus was taking it all in, unaware of the screaming Rita Skeeter next to him, when a dozen footsteps were heard and several staff members and students led by Harry entered the lavatory.

Harry walked over to the mess a picked up the wooden remains atop the ruined sinks, "Elder. The Elder Wand." He muttered louder then he probably realized.

"Hiya, Harry." said a young girl's voice from behind Albus.

"Now not a good time, Myrtle." Harry said to the ghost of a young girl behind them.

"It never is with you." Myrtle pouted and she dived into one of the toilets.

Albus was horrified. He was looking directly into the dark green eyes jewels that were the eyes of the engraved snake on one of the sinks.

"Albus," a loud voice from a distant land said, "Albus!" But he just stared at the eyes. It was frightening him. It seemed to be doing something to him, internally. He could feel power in his hands. An amplified version power he felt from the wandless magic of his prior experiences. His father still calling him but Albus wasn't listening. Instead, without thinking he ran off.

He would go anywhere, _anywhere_, to get away from the bathroom. He followed his legs until he reached a place that took Albus a moment to realize where it was. He was in his father's office, staring over the Pensieve that his father had inherited from Albus Dumbledore. Albus instinctively leaned in and as his face touched the silvery surface, he felt his feet leave the ground as he was plunged into a brief darkness and taken thrown back into a dim light as he saw the sun was just rising, standing over a teenage boy. The boy looked just like Albus except he was taller with a little more mature features and a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. Before him sat an old man with a great silver beard, piercing blue eyes and half-moon spectacles that stood before them. It was a man who Albus had heard some much about and seen so little of. He was staring at Albus Dumbledore.

"Why did he do it, then?" Albus looked back down at his father who appeared to be shaking, "Why did he try and kill me as a baby? He should have waited to see whether Neville or I looked more dangerous when we were older and tried to kill whoever it was them-"

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "That might, indeed, have been the more practical course, except that Voldemort's information about the prophecy was incomplete. The Hog's Head Inn, which Trelawney chose for its cheapness, has long attracted, shall we say, a more interesting clientele than the Three Broomsticks. As you and your friends found out at your own cost, and I mine that night, it is a place where it is never safe to assume you are not being overheard. Of course, I had not dreamed, when I set out to meet Sybill Trelawney, that I would hear anything worth overhearing. My-our-one stroke of good fortune was that the eavesdropper was detected only a short way into the prophecy and thrown from the building."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "So he only heard…?"

Dumbledore nodded, "He only heard the first part, the part foretelling the birth of a boy in July to parents who had thrice defied Voldemort. Consequently, he could not warn his master that to attack you would be to risk transferring power to you-again marking you as his equal. So Voldemort never knew there might be danger in attacking you that it might be wise to wait or to learn more. He did know that you would have 'the power the Dark Lord knows not'-"

Harry stood up, "But I don't!" he sat back down, struggling to calm himself, "I haven't any powers he hasn't got, I couldn't fight him the way he did tonight, I can't posses people or-or kill them-"

Dumbledore lowered his voice to nearly a whisper, "There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power also took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession from Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment before opening them as he began to speak again, "The end of the prophecy…it was something about…'_neither can live…_'"

"'…_while the other survives_'" said Harry Potter of the present from behind Albus, "Come, I think the present awaits us." And the two left the depths of the Pensieve.

Back in Harry's office, Albus felt his face become wet. It was tears, he soon realized. He was crying. It wasn't the memory he had seen but the events in real-time that had just taken place, this mysterious destructive force and the strange powers that were being wielded by Albus. Harry went down on his knees and hugged his son. "Albus, I don't know what happening, but I know this- you were born for a reason. A time when you would be needed, but I can't have you worrying."

Albus wasn't sure why powerful magical items were being destroyed and felt that all he could do is watch. Meanwhile, he felt this mysterious power gaining control over his magical abilities.

Then he remembered something from the memory.

"Dad?" asked Albus asked his father, "What exactly did Professor Dumbledore mean when he told you that there was a greater power that you had, that Voldemort could never obtain?"

"It was something you have to. Something only the wickedest of people don't have. People who really aren't even people. It's love Albus, we have that power of love and that, beyond any other force in our way, is the greatest power anyone could ever have. That night in the Pensieve, it saved me. I wanted to die but my love for my godfather, Sirius was so great, that it gave me a strength I hadn't had before. Love."

Father and son hugged once more, refusing to let go and sat in each other's grips for a long time.


	11. Three Questions

**Three Questions**

As early November rolled Albus still wasn't sure about the events that had taken place on the night of the destruction in the girls' bathroom. Once his father had discovered him in the Pensieve, it had been Albus' understanding that Harry knew what was going on. But all Harry knew, was that Albus was freaked out by the events taking place in the castle. Albus hadn't realized it at the time but his father really didn't understand. Sure the events had horrified him, but there was something bigger. Something inside of him. This power that he was wielding, it was nearly too much to bear. And once he had seen the destroyed sinks, and on one of them the eyes of that engraved snake had caused something to awake inside him. He didn't realize it at the time, but ever since then, these last couple of weeks he had felt some kind of burning along his torso and he knew that somehow this power and all this destruction of magical objects were connected but he just didn't know how.

And, not to mention, in the weeks following the incident with the girls' lavatory and (unknown to most of the school) the destruction of the Elder Wand most school items had been destroyed. Not all of them were announced to the school and so far Albus hadn't been at the event as it occurred, though in each case he had been close by, but of the destructions he did know of included several items from both Harry's and the headmistress's office, most were either inventions of Dumbledore or other headmasters from the distant past. None of them Albus recognized but he feared the destruction of all the magical items. As went to pass, he had been getting even more nervous to the point where he was sure everyone around him must think he was mentally disturbed. His fear had started to affect his school work and had nearly lost then the last Racing Match against the Dashing 'Sticks.

Something was destroying magical items for an unknown reason and Albus was going through some sort of wizard crisis.

And even worse, there wasn't a thing anyone could do about it.

Snow had just begun to come down that early November day, but rather then enjoying the winter wonderland Albus was stuck in History of Magic.

The class had just finished reviewing past material when, already nearly finished with the class for the day, Professor Kinlan strode into the classroom.

"Please excuse my delay; I was having a word with Headmistress," Kinlan addressed the class. He then pointed to the ghost at the front of the room, "Thank you, Grey Lady." The Ravenclaw ghost bowed her head and passed through the wall to exit the room.

"What do you suppose he was talking to Ravensddole about?" Albus asked Luke.

"Probably asking for a raise." Luke snickered.

"Now, for the last few months, we've been talking about recent wizarding history, the Wizards' Exile, the development of modern laws in the International Confederation of Wizards, the Delegation to North America and subsequent Delegation to South America, and we were supposed to start studying the wizards involved in the muggle's World War II but I have decided to take a couple of weeks to learn about the origins of the magical community. So, let me ask you all, when did the first wizards live?"

Not a single person raised their hand. Not even Rose who everyone had turned to look at. Felling pressured, Rose raised her and said, "Um, somewhere around the 700s?"

"Good guess and actually a guide common misconception. The truth is there were no actual known first wizards. In _A History of Magic _Bathilda Bagshot starts chronicling history in days of the Wizards of legend, like Merlin, King Arthur, Lord Percival, Morgan le Fay, and so on which, close to what Miss Weasley said, took place actually around the ninth century. Although this is when Bagshot says wizarding history begins, she writes very little for almost nothing known of the time. In fact some people are now saying that these events actually took place in the eighth or ninth century. But this is what _A History of Magic _says. Recent discoveries prove the wizarding world to be much older. Evidence now says that the first people to resemble wizards were people roughly around the year 4000 B.C.E. These early people were exceptionally gifted individuals who seemed to have an innate talent for performing tasks others could not. These people started to come together and perform rituals, many involving magical creatures which have been said to be either around since the beginning of time or were created by these ritualistic pre-modern wizards, a talent lost and forgotten by the founding of the modern wizard, they cannot be created by magical means, to invoke more powerful magic and gradually as time progressed, these people developed their inborn talents to become what would be considered a wizard today with just a few differences. Most of this information comes from the recently unearthed Magick-Arrick Declaration, a magically preserved stone from around the year 2500 B.C.E. that established the Magical world. These people from the time of the Magick-Arrick Declaration are really the answer to my earlier question of who were the first wizards. It was the wizards of this time." Kinlan glanced at his wristwatch. "I am afraid, because was late, we are running low on time, so tonight I want you all to read the first three chapter of _An Early History of Magic_. I know this wasn't originally planned to be taught, so I am providing the texts for you."

"Great," Luke muttered to Rose who was in front of him and just receiving her own copy of the textbook "work."

Rose then slapped Luke over the back of his head with the book.

That night, Albus, Luke, and Rose were running the dark halls of Hogwarts after an Astronomy class. Normally, coming from the class they wouldn't get in trouble for being out so late, but somewhere along the way back, they all took a wrong turn and were now lost in the endless, and moreover dangerous since the mysterious ravaging of the halls, corridors of Hogwarts Castle.

"No, you moron, it's that's way." Luke pointed down a set of stairs.

"No, we just came from there; we need to keep going down the hall." Rose corrected.

"Oh, would you two shut up, it's obvious we have no idea where we are, this place requires a map to find anything!" Albus yelled rather loudly.

"Eh? What's that? Mrs. Norris, did you hear that?" a voice from behind them, down the stairs.

The three turned to each other and whispered, "Filch!"

The three stumbled over each other in a dash for the nearest door. They opened the door as fast as they could make as little noise as possible. As they entered the room they open another door into a closet and hid there. Outside of the closet, they could hear Filch walking around.

"I know you're in here. Mrs. Norris try to sniff them out. Hm, I wonder what the headmistress would say about this? I hear she doesn't take kindly to rule-breakers." Filch asked the air.

Being as quiet as she could, Rose creaked the closet door opened, pointed her wand out the door and muttered, "_Absonar_."

A faint noise from the hall was heard and Filch turned to leave the classroom, "I have you now, you wretched little brats."

The three heard the door close and all sighed in relief. Albus, Luke, and Rose all went for the door at once and tripped over each other in the process.

"Ow!" shrieked Luke as Rose landing her foot on his chest.

Rose gasped, "Oh, Luke, I'm sorry, so sorry."

"It's fine." Luke said as he took the hand Rose had extended to help him up.

"Great, now do you mind getting off of me?" Albus murmured from under the rising Luke.

Luke laughed, "Oh, yeah!"

Luke helped Albus up and the three were heading for the door to renew their venture to find their dormitories. They were nearly to the door when from behind them a distorted voice said, "You called on me?"

A swirl of what seemed to be ashes were flying around and attaching to the figure of a man. As the ashes settled onto the figure's body, the man body came into view. His eyes were a silvery color and his face was young but bore the wisdom of a thousand generations. He was wearing some sort of metal armor that had two triangles engraved on top of each other on the breastplate and carried some sort of staff that was mostly wooden but contained iron pieces notably at the top where the iron formed a little wall around a perfectly round purple stone. The oddest part of the mannish-figure was that his skin was mainly a pale green color with a couple of lines going down his body drawn in what seemed to be black ink.

"I repeat did you call on me?" the figure repeated.

Rose stared in fascination, "Who-what are you?"

"I'll take that as no for you calling me." The figure actually smiled, which Albus had thought the last thing he would have done, "To your question I am a Djinn, or genie if you will, and to the other part of your question, who am I; I have been called different things in the past but at the time of my creation nearly three thousand years ago, the master called me Ami."

"A genie?" Luke gasped.

"Djinn, really." The djinn muttered more to himself then to Luke.

Luke ignored the comment and went off into a tangent of his thoughts, "I remember a long time ago before my mother died, she read me a story about a gen-er, sorry, a djinn. It was about this man who was sent by a evil sorcerer to retrieve a magic lamp from a mystical cave. The sorcerer betrays the man and traps him in the cave but the man has this ring that the sorcerer, who was unaware of its true powers, gave to him and when he accidently rubs against it a djinn appeared to him. He has the djinn take him back to his home. Once he gets back home, he discovers that in the magic lamp that he had gotten in the cave also contained a more powerful djinn. The man than use the greater djinn's immense power to gain wealth and other luxuries and ends up wedding his kingdom's princess but soon the evil sorcerer finds out that the man had the djinn he had wanted so he steals it from the man and takes it back to his home along with the entire palace and the people in it, except for the man, in a distant land. The man is despaired but remembers of the djinn of the ring. At first, the djinn refuses to help the man but is finally convinced after the man makes a promise to hold him in higher esteem than the djinn of the lamp. The djinn uses his magic to send the man to the evil sorcerer's home and with the aid of the djinn, is able to find and kill the sorcerer. He recovers his lamp and returns the palace to his home. Eventually, the man took over as ruler of his kingdom with the djinn of the ring as his aide. Then one day the man grew old and died and passed on his kingdom and the ring to his son who eventually passed the two on to his son and so on."

"So, what happened to the kingdom?" Albus asked.

"What does it matter, it's just a story." Rose interrupted.

"Yes, and one I have heard myself many times," said Ami. "Now," he pointed to Albus, "I suppose it's your turn."

"For what?"

"To ask a question, I will answer three at a time and if you require more you just need to summon me again." Ami explained.

"Can ask you a personal question real quick before I ask my actual question. Not invoking any knowledge, that is to say, just a simple question." Albus asked.

Ami considered the question for a moment before deciding to say, "If it helps you decide what to ask, then yes. But make it quick."

"Thank you. Now tell me, is your knowledge unlimited?"

"Not unlimited, but highly extensive."

"Then do you know what I going on with our school? All these powerful magical items being destroyed?" Albus asked.

Ami closed his eyes concentrated real hard, "I see…The Scar of Wizardry…it involves the Scar of Wizardry that's all I know."

Albus knew he couldn't ask anymore, there was only one question left, "Luke, you know what to ask."

Luke nodded, "How can we summon you again?"

"You will find me in the heart of the light." The djinn's skin seemed to turn ashy again and started to fly off of him until he had disappeared.

Rose smacked Luke across the head, "You idiot, we wanted you to ask what the Scar of Wizardry is!"

"Would you stop hitting me; soon this welt will probably become permanent if you keep it up." Luke rubbed the back off his head.

But Albus was smiling. They had just gotten a valuable piece of information. They had an idea of what was going on. They had a chance.

"Albus I know what you're thinking and I think you should just drop it." Rose said.

"What?" Albus asked.

"I don't know if this djinn can be trusted."

"Why not?" asked Luke.

"You two need to pay better attention in class. Today during Kinlan's lecture he mentioned something things that don't add up with the djinn's story. The djinn says he way created but Kinlan said magical creatures existed from the beginning of time."

"Right, but he also said they could be created through rituals by the pre-modern wizard." Albus pointed out.

"But the pre-modern wizard was a wizard before the Magick-Arrick Declaration in 2500 B.C.E. and the djinn said he was created three thousand years ago around 1000 B.C.E when the ability to create magical creatures had been lost."

"I still think it's something we should at least look into." Albus offered.

"I agree but I think we should be careful while looking into it." Rose warned.

"What about that last thing the djinn said, about being able to summon him again from the heart of the light?" Albus wondered.

"From what I heard in stories as kid, djinns can sometimes talk in riddles or things that make perfect sense to them but not to anyone else." Luke said.

"Great, just great." Rose rolled his eyes.

"Well, hopefully we won't need to call on him again." Albus stated, "Now come on," he started out the door, "before Filch finds us again."


	12. A Very Weasley Christmas Pt 1

**A Very Weasley Christmas Pt. 1**

For the next two months every chance the three friends got was spent in the library. So far, their efforts had yielded no results. It was the night before Christmas holidays were going to begin and Albus, Rose, and Luke were the last people in the library that night."

"The real problem is we don't even know what we're looking for. Is it an object, is it a title, what?" Rose wondered.

"Well, it's been two months and even more magical items have been devastated. What are we going to do, Albus?" Luke asked, "Er, Albus?"

Albus open his eyes and shot his head up from the table he had been laying on, "Wha- oh, I'm awake!"

Rose and Luke sniggered. "Albus," Luke asked again, "What are we going to do about this Scar of Wizardry problem?"

"Well, what do we know?" Albus asked.

"It's somehow related to the destructions of all these objects." Rose replied.

"And?"

"That's it. We don't even know if it's an actual tangible thing or not." Rose snapped.

"Hey, you know who I bet we could ask about this?" Albus asked.

"Who?" asked Rose and Luke.

"Norman Likuud, you know Rose, that Auror whose stationed here during Christmas holidays. He used to work for the Department of Records of Magical Objects, Substances, Relics, and artifacts. We can ask him this week, what do you say?" Albus inquired.

"That's wonderful idea, Albus." Rose said.

"Can't mate," Luke sighed, "My sister coming home from Australia for Hanukkah and my parents want me to be there but go ahead and do it, just tell me about it when I get back."

"All right." Albus said.

"Meanwhile, everyone's coming tomorrow and I'm sure your dormitory is a mess." Rose said to Albus.

"Hey that is…completely true." Albus responded.

"Whose coming tomorrow?" Luke asked.

"Our families. Uncle Harry had to stay here for the holidays so the whole family decided to also spend the holidays at Hogwarts." Rose replied.

"Wish I could stay, but like I said before, I'm leaving for home. Speaking of which, I better get to sleep if I want to wake up in time for the train tomorrow." Luke said.

"All right, good night," Rose waved as Luke walked away, "You keep looking Albus, and I'm going to see if I can find any other books to help us."

Albus nodded and returned to his book. After a moment of looking into the words of the volume Albus leaned down his head and fell asleep.

Albus woke up to find he had drooled all over the book he had been reading. But it didn't matter to him, his family was coming today. He would be seeing Hugo and Lily and his mum and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and the rest of the family that day. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and dashed down to the Great Hall. When he got there he saw a quarter of the school had decided to stay for the holidays. As he walked towards Slytherin table he heard a little girl's voice shriek, "Albus!"

Albus turned to see it was his sister, Lily, surrounded by a large mass of red hair at the Gryffindor table. He ran over, surprised to see how soon they had gotten to Hogwarts.

Upon arrival at the table, he was over whelmed by a mass of holiday hugs. Even Percy came over for a big bear hug. As he sat down between his sister and his cousin, Lucy, he looked across to see his Uncle Ron doing what he did best, eating.

Albus' Aunt Hermione elbowed Uncle Ron in his ribcage, "Ron!"

"What? We just took an overnight train to get here by morning, I can't be hungry?" Ron retorted.

"No but please, have some manners." Hermione said holding out a napkin.

Ron took the napkin and wiped his mouth. "Hey Albus," Ron picked up one of the dozens of cardboard tubes and threw it towards Albus, "Catch!"

Albus caught it with one hand. He looked down the table to see the rest of the family had done so as well.

"All right, everybody, on the count of three." Percy said.

"Three!" yelled Bill Weasley.

All the Weasley and Potters ripped open there tubes simultaneously to produce the loudest sound Albus had ever heard. A large puff of blue smoke covered half the Hall and when it cleared, the entire family was holding gifts in their hands. Albus looked into his hands to see empty photo frame.

"A picture frame, Ha!" Ron laughed at Albus before looking at his own gift. "Oh, brilliant, a flower."

Albus laughed at his uncle. The rest of the meal continued with much fun until everyone had finished. Once everyone had taken their fill, it was decided that the family would go play a game of Quidditch.

As they reached the field, those who wanted to play divided into teams. Harry, James, Lucy, Fred (the second), George, Hugo, and Teddy Lupin who had come returned to Hogsmeade after a little less than successful trip to America were on one team and Ginny, Ron, Bill, Albus, Rose, Lily, and rather reluctant Dominique.

Albus' team huddled together on one side of the field. "So," Ginny started, "Ron, you'll be our Keeper, Bill and Dominique, how about playing Beaters? Rose, Lily and I'll be Chasers which I guess leaves Albus as Seeker. Everyone good?"

A murmur of agreement sounded throughout the team as they mounted their broom and flew to the center. The other team met up with them and from bellow, Arthur Weasley released the balls from their case. The game had begun.

"Be careful!" yelled Hermione, Audrey, Fleur, and Grandma Weasley. Albus looked behind to see that his mom's mouth had opened to say it as well but had stopped herself.

Albus was high in the sky looking for the snitch. It wasn't the first time he'd played seeker and ever since proving himself in the Racing match, he had been feeling more confident in his own abilities. Below him the game was progressing badly for Albus. His team was had only thirty points and were losing by fifty points. His eyes searched the field for a glimmer of gold against the white snow but the lack of a sun made his quest all the more difficult.

"Albus!" Albus turned to see his sister, who was holding the Quaffle, pointing below and behind Albus, "Look!"

Albus looked to see Harry had increased his speed. He had spotted the snitch! Albus dived after his father to catch the snitch before he did. They were circling Harry's team's goal posts when out of the corner of Albus' he saw a little glint of gold. He looked back at his father and realized that he was faking his discovery of the snitch to trick Albus. Albus did a sharp turn and sped towards the snitch he had spotted. His father must have seen him because within a couple of seconds, Harry was on Albus' tail. But Albus had the upper hand. The broom that Harry himself had given to Albus would ensure the victory for Albus.

Or that's what Albus thought until a well placed Bludger hit him across his side and knocked him off his broom. Albus was seized by fright as he fell.

Then again the sensation took over him. Time slowed down and he felt the sensation of falling asleep again. His hand moved itself again and the broom that way flying rogue above him, dipped and came under him at speeds no broom could ever dream of attaining. Albus would have called it teleporting if he hadn't seen the initial dip of the broom. It came under him and continued to go at speeds beyond possible for another few seconds until Albus regained control over his body. He looked in front of him to see the Golden Snitch flying right around in front of him. He extended his arm to try and grab it but it was just out of reach. He gritted his teeth and he moved towards the tip of the broom and reached out to the snitch. He felt his body dive. He was holding onto the tip of the broom and was slipping. He would try to use his strange powers again but like before he was afraid to use it. His fingers finally slid of the broom handle. Once more he was falling but was caught by Ron.

"Hey Albus!" Ron yelled over the wind.

"What?" Albus shouted back.

"We've won!" Ron yelled.

Albus looked down in his hand. A golden ball was in his hand that had little wings that were gently flapping.

The Golden Snitch had been caught.

The game was over.

Harry closed his eyes and walked past the wall three times. A door formed in the wall and the entire family entered it.

"The Room of Requirement." Harry told his children.

Albus was amazed as his father showed them around it and explained how it worked. Now, it had produced several beds, a fireplace, and a large shelf that Hermione had filled with books.

Everyone talked into the night, recalling the amazing game they had had earlier that day. Soon, people got tired until it was only Albus and James in front of the fireplace.

"These are dangerous times, here at Hogwarts." James said looking into the fire. "Albus, I'm now a third-year so I've pretty much learned all I need to know about the castle. You however could use a little help, now that things have become so difficult."

"What do you mean?" Albus asked, confused what James' point was.

"I mean I have something for you." James reached into his back pocket, "I know Christmas isn't for another couple of hours, so just consider this my unofficial gift to you."

Albus took the two objects James had taken out from his pocket. One was some sort of silvery clothe and the other was a blank sheet of parchment. "Oh, thanks," Albus rolled his eyes, "A new cloak and a new sheet of parchment."

James smiled, "Not just any cloak." He stood up and draped himself in the silvery cloak. As it fell on him, Albus saw him disappear from the room. "Dad's Invisibility Cloak." He said as he reappeared. He then took the sheet of parchment and tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." The parchment developed words on it that read, _Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_ _Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers__are proud to present__  
__THE MARAUDER'S MAP, later additions by Mane_. "And the Marauder's Map."

"Where did you get these?" Albus asked in amazement.

"Nicked them from dad a while ago. I figure he knows but doesn't feel it important that we not have it. Probably would have given it to us hadn't it been for mum." James extended his the items towards Albus. "They're yours now."

Albus took them in amazement. "Thanks James."

"Welcome." James responded. He walked up to go to bed nut turned around once more to Albus, "Hey, Albus?"

"Yeah?"

James pointed to the grandfather clock in the room that said midnight, "Merry Christmas."

Albus woke up. He was in his bed in the Room of Requirement. It was dark, but Albus could see that the clock said four o'clock. He slowly turned over to see his father and uncle holding placing presents under a giant Christmas tree that Albus guessed they must have summoned while everyone was asleep. He slowly turned back to where he was to go back to sleep when heard his father and uncle start to talk.

"Scary stuff, isn't it?" Ron asked. "All the destruction of these magical items, I mean."

"Yeah." Harry said.

"Don't you think we should be doing something? Or do you, like I think it has something to do with the Final Proph-"

"Ron!" Harry hissed, "Not here, you don't know who could be listening, but yes, I do think it has something to do with that."

"But the Pro- sorry, but it was never really clear about what would happen. I mean think about the things destroyed, why would someone want to destroy things as powerful as the Elder Wand or as useless as the Chamber of Secrets."

"Ron, I think that's just it, it isn't useless, none of this is." Harry said.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Well, if we take what you said the Chamber of Secrets I can tell you it's not useless. It was said only the Heir of Slytherin would be able to control its power."

"Right, but what does that have to do with anything."

"It has to do with it in that as long as someone was a Parselmouth like I was, they could get in. Not too long ago, I was on an investigation for the Auror Department. I was searching for clues to Gellert Grindelwald's past."

"And?" Ron asked.

"Well, my initial finding led me to believe he had a lot to do with the muggle war, you know, World War Two?" Harry asked.

"Heard of it, mostly from dad." Ron commented.

"Well, I knew Grindelwald was German and I knew his prison Nurmengard was in Germany so I stared there. I took what I found back home and referenced it Dumbledore's old things. He wrote in one of his papers that he believes that Grindelwald was a major help to the Axis Powers during the war and was the reason they were so powerful. It's also a well known fact that the duel between Dumbledore and Grindelwald took place in Berlin during the final battle of war. So, I returned to the scene of the duel and discovered a hidden cavern full of Grindelwald's things. Among his things I found pretty much all I needed for my report but I also found something I wanted to inspect myself. Apparently, when Voldemort opened the Chamber of Secrets in 1942, Grindelwald heard about it and inspected the place himself, unknown to Voldemort. I'm not sure but from Grindelwald's note it sounds like he found something there, some power he had wanted to exploit. After all it's called the Chamber of _Secrets_, not the Chamber of _Secret_. The basilisk couldn't have been the only thing down there. It seems like whoever is destroying all these items must be doing it so nothing can go up against it."

"Harry, I just don't get it, what are we up against?" Ron asked.

"I don't know Ron, but whatever it is; it wants to make sure it is the only power. It is destroying things. It doesn't want power; it wants to make sure it just has power." Harry sighed.

"But why not take the power for itself?"

"I don't know, I just don't know." Harry said.

Albus didn't want to listen anymore. He shut his eyes tight and covered his ears. After what seemed like forever, his tiredness took over and he fell asleep.


	13. A Very Weasley Christmas Pt 2

**A Very Weasley Christmas Pt. 2**

Albus woke up in a sweat. He had been having a nightmare but couldn't remember what about. All he remembered was a voice, _his father's voice_ calling out to him, screaming. He rolled over in his bed and felt the same burning in his back he had felt after the first Racing match but this time, it actual felt like it was physically harming him. As if something was piercing his back with knives. But he pushed it away and tried not to think about the pain, as hard as it might be.

"Al! Hey Albus!" Albus sat up and looked towards the noise. He looked to see his cousin Lucy talking to him, "Its Christmas morning and you're just going to lay there?"

Christmas! It was Christmas! Albus popped out of his bed and ran over to see his entire family unwrapping their gifts under the tree. Albus followed suit and opened up his gifts.

First he received a wand-polishing kit from Percy, Audrey, and Molly and from Lucy the receipt for the kit and an extra ten galleons. Then from Bill, Fleur, Dominique and Louis he got a small model of a werewolf that could change between human and wolf and could open its mouth and hold inside it small items like a wand or a at the most maybe a Quaffle. From Victoire he received a bottle of cologne and note that said_ Never too early to start smelling like a gentleman…_ Albus laughed as he read it. Victoire may have the good nature of her father, but really, she is her mother's child.

Albus turned to the next assortment of gifts. It was a giant basket of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes merchandise from George, Fred, and little Roxanne. He caught George's mischievous smile and flashed one in return as soon as he made sure his mum wasn't looking. Next to that, he found a bunch of homemade treacle tart and a green sweater with a silver A stitched to the front from his grandparents.

As he took a bite of the treats his grandmother had made him, he saw his aunt and uncle hover over him with their gifts.

"For you." Hermione smiled as she dumped the gift on to him.

Albus caught the present but as soon as he did, he fell over. Albus got back up on his feet and, wondering what could be so heavy. He opened it up and looked at was itside. It was books. Seven books.

"What are these?" Albus asked.

"Remember that _awful _biography of that was written of your father a couple of years ago by Rita Skeeter?" Hermione inquired.

"Yeah."

"Well, one woman who was outraged by what was put down in those books wanted the truth so a year ago during the summertime, she came to get the real facts from us. She originally intended to write in the form of a biography but decided that it would do better as a story book. She just published the last one." Hermione explained.

Albus looked at the topmost book. _Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_ it read. Albus looked back at Hermione and smiled a genuine smiled and thanked her for the gift. Hermione beamed and went to give away the rest of her gifts. Ron followed suit but not before bending down to Albus and muttering, "I'm sorry."

Albus laughed and turned to see his parents had arrived with there gifts. It was a broom tail kit that included special bristles to improve the brooms dexterity and a craving piece to engrave his name into the broom handle. Ginny turned to continue her rounds but Harry lingered on for a moment to hand over something else to Albus.

"If you're ever in a tight spot," Harry handed him a vial of green liquid, "try some of this."

"Thanks, dad." Albus took it.

"And Albus?"

"Yeah, dad?"

"Merry Christmas."

The Weasley's and Potters were just leaving the Room of Requirement to go downstairs for something to eat. Albus was walking together with James when he looked back to see Teddy Lupin was still sitting in his bed. Earlier, he had been asleep when everyone was passing around gifts but now it was apparent that he was awake but for some reason was not leaving his bed.

"I'll catch up with you guys." Albus said to James.

"Well, you know where to find us." James pointed to the pocket Albus held the Marauder's Map in.

"Hey, you all right?" asked Albus.

"Fine." Ted grunted.

"Really, because you don't sound fine." Albus asked.

"I said I'm fine, just go eat."

Albus was confused. Teddy had always been so friendly but now…now he seemed so hostile. Albus turned to leave Ted alone when he noticed the stack of gifts left over from earlier. "Look, I don't know what's going on and I'm sorry for that, but at least try and have a happy Christmas." Albus tossed Ted a gift from the pile and left for the Grand Hall.

That night was a cold one. Even within the confines of the Room of Requirement, the chill ran wild. It hadn't occurred to anyone in the room that any of the children would dare try and leave the castle for the night. This made it the best night possible to go out and find Norman Likuud without suspicion arousing from his family.

"And we can't get caught." Albus said.

Rose put her hands on her hips, "Really, and why's that?"

"Because look what I got for Christmas."Albus withdrew the Invisibility Cloak from his pocket.

"That's Uncle Harry's cloak! Where'd you get that?" Rose gasped.

Albus chuckled quietly and drew that cloak over the two of them, "Apparently James had it and decided to pass it on to me along with this."

Rose gasped again. "The Marauder's Map!"

"Yes, now shut up or we'll get caught." Albus said as they left the room. They went through the castle until after several minutes of quiet walking they felt they were at a safe enough distance to take off the cloak. As Albus handed Rose the cloak he withdrew the parchment that was in his back pocket and opened it up. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Albus proclaimed as he tapped the sheet. From the sheet spawned shapes and dots with little names hovering over them. Albus scanned the map until he found Norman Likuud walking around the lake. Rose saw what Albus had and threw the cloak back over them. The two headed down to the ground floor of the castle at the main entrance.

"This was your idea, Albus, how do we get out of the castle?" Rose inquired.

Albus hadn't thought about it. He looked down at the map as if hoping for it to get up and start telling him what to do. His wand on the map as he said, "Help us find a way out of here."

The ink disappeared from the sheet making it look like an ordinary piece of parchment for a moment before returning. This time he saw little footsteps leading from where he and Rose where standing to someplace on the other side of the castle.

"Looks like…directions? How'd you do that?" Rose asked.

"I-I-I don't know I just asked for a way out and it-it-it told me where to go." Albus stammered.

Rose looked at Albus and decided to take the lead. Following the map, the two headed across the castle until finally they arrived in a damp corridor with a low hanging sealing. Albus took of the cloak as they looked in the direction of the footsteps of the map to see a painting of some kind of battle. On one side of the painting lay two men. One was had been killed by a sword that ran through his heart and the other who was holding the sword was also dead but it wasn't clear what killed him. Behind the man whose heart had been stabbed where twelve other bodies who were all wearing black armor and lay bloody and dead. Behind the wielder of the sword lay several dead man and seven others, one of whom was walking over towards the sword wielder, who still lived. To the side of the portrait looked over a woman who shook her head with a mix of disapproval and grief. Bent over the dead owner of the sword was a crying woman who held a little bundle of blankets that contained a baby. The two looked at the painting for a moment, taking in the scene until Albus remember why they were there.

"So, do we-?" Albus began.

But Rose had already brandished her wand. She tapped the woman who was bending over and then the woman to the side who had been watching the scene. The two got up and went off the left side of the portrait. Within a few seconds the canvas swung open from where the two women disappeared. Albus looked over the map and found the instructions to do what Rose had just done written over their names. The two entered the painting slowly and cautiously. Albus suddenly saw a dim light shine beneath his eyes and he felt the ground move below him. His eyes closed against his will and a moment later when he found he could open them again, he saw that his face was in a bunch of leaves. He stood up and found that he was inside a series of shrubbery leaning next to the castle and right off of the lake shore. He looked over and saw Rose had found her way there too. He made his way over to her and the two took off. They followed the lake shore for an nearly an hour until they arrived to a dry spot in the snow. Albus looked around to see what caused the snow to melt when he felt something jab him in the neck.

"Oh, just a student." grunted the user of the wand.

The wand was lowered and Albus turned to see the wand in the hand of the lake. The wand started to move and as it did the lake turned into a human. The man had a neatly trimmed beard and was squinting his left eye. His blond hair had steaks of an ugly dark green color in it. His robes were a blue-green color and were also sopping wet.

"Why don't you had back to you room before I call up your teachers?" asked the squinting man.

Rose started to turn but Albus stopped. He look at the man squinting eye and realized who it was, "Before we do could we ask you something Mr. Likuud?"

Likuud drew his wand again like lightning, "Who are you? Answer me!"

Albus backed up, "Oh, sorry. My name is Albus Potter, we met a while ago at the Ministry, maybe you remember?"

He withdrew his wand, "Ah, Potter's kid. And the girl?"

"Rose Weasley, my cousin." Albus introduced.

"Very well, then should I call your parents? I understand they are until tomorrow night."

"Oh that won't be necessary; we just came ask you some questions." Rose piped up.

Likuud thought about it for a moment, "Fine, what do you need?"

"So, you used to wok for the Department of Records of Magical Objects, Substances, Relics, and Artifacts." Asked Rose.

"Yes, that's right, what of it?" Likuud asked.

"Well I'll just get right to it. What can you tell us about the Scar of Wizardry?"

"Nothing." Likuud said plainly.

"You know its okay to tell us." Albus said.

"It's not that won't tell you I can't."

"Why can't you?" Albus asked.

Likuud glared at Albus with his good eye, "When I worked for that department I learned and memorized every magical object in existence. If I don't know about it, it doesn't exist."

"That's not possible; we were told that the Scar of Wizardry exists." Rose said.

"Who told you?"

Rose and Albus looked at each other. Rather than answer the question Rose continued, "How can you be sure? What if there is an object you don't know about?"

Likuud's nostrils flared, "Then it's illegal or was destroyed. Are you using anything illegal?"

"No sir." Albus said, "Thank you for your time."

The two left. As they headed back the way the way came Rose asked Albus, "So now what?"

"It exists, but it's not an object." Albus said.

"How can you be so sure?"

"I've been thinking about it, for a while now, and I was thinking about this." Albus took of his robe and shirt to show Rose his back. She studied his back for several minutes. It was a wand. Albus had an image of a wand running down his back.

"What is it?" Rose asked, looking at it.

"I don't know whenever I asked my mum about it she just looked away and muttered that it was a birthmark but always felt it was something else." As Albus said this something connected in his head, "And ever since those strange things happened with those wandless magic I have been having these pains in my back, sometimes it a little ache and other times its an actual burning sensation."

"So you have the Scar of Wizardry? What about all the destroyed objects." Rose said.

Albus started to put his shirt back on. "I don't know. I just don't know."

**Sorry, I didn't have a lot of time for the story lately but the time I did have I spent working on the other Albus Potter stories. Anyways, the next story is taking a basic preliminary form and I have been thinking of potential names that you can please vote on located on my profile. **


	14. Channeling

**Channeling**

That night had been a long one. Albus and Rose came back to the bushes were they had emerged only to find that the passageway had disappeared.

"Just ask the map for another way in." whispered Rose.

"Right!" Albus reached into his back pocket to pull out the map. "Oh no."

"This can't be good." Rose muttered.

"I think I lost the map."

"You lost the map! You git, how do you expect us to get back in?" Rose exclaimed with rage in her voice.

"I-" Albus began.

"You know what? I don't even want to hear it." Rose said and she walked away.

Albus was left alone without a way back in the castle. He looked around the bushes for an hour looking for a way back in and eventually Albus wore himself out and fell asleep.

Albus awoke to a pink sky that morning. It was still very early in the morning. Hoping not to be caught sneaking out by his family, or worse _Filch_, Albus threw on his Invisibility Cloak and walked back to the Entrance Courtyard. He found the main doors to be unlocked and entered the castle. He returned to the Slytherin Dormitory, not wanting to face Rose again. 

In the following weeks Albus would find out, by word of Luke that Rose had camped out behind Hagrid's hut that night. That morning Hagrid had found Rose and escorted her back to the castle, promising not to breathe a word to anyone so long she promised never to sleep in his pumpkin patch again.

The afternoon after their lakeside excursion Albus' family left and Luke and the rest of the students returned. The flow of things returned to normal albeit the continuing onslaught of destruction as winter came to a close. The days were getting noticeably longer when Albus grabbed his broom from the locker rooms. The team was ready to go that Saturday night and had assembled by the room's entrance to hear Teddy Lupin's pre-game pep talk.

"One game, gentlemen." He paced in front of them, "One game. We either win it and move on or lose it and leave for the season. The Striking Demiguise knocked out the Dashing 'Sticks and now it's either us or the Flying Hippogriffs. Now I don't know about you, but these last ten years of racing sure have annoyed me. Not one Rising Phoenix victory. But we will change that starting tonight. Tonight we beat those Hippogriffs and then kick the Demiguise back to where they came from. Tonight we clear the way to victory for the Rising Phoenixes!"

The team cheered and used their exhilaration to run mount their brooms and fly out onto the field.

"An exciting night for the Rising Phoenixes." declared Clarke Dewhurst from the commentary booth. "This is the first time of the ten years of Racing at Hogwarts that they have made it this far."

Albus turned to James and asked what Dewhurst meant. "Well, in past years several members of the team underwent too many losses and quite a few sustained serious injuries. We have always had to drop out by the semi-finals. But not this year, thanks to you!"

"Yes, the Phoenixes have their newest player, Albus Potter to thank for the string of victories. But, the Flying Hippogriff's captain, former Hufflepuff Quidditch captain Romule Indy, says they have prepared an offensive strategy that he claims will ensure their victory.

Albus could hear the distaste in Clarke Dewhurst's voice. Being a Gryffindor made him a little less then partial but the fact the Dewhurst said it without adding in any of his own commentary worried Albus of the Hippogriff's team strategy. Albus had to shake off his worries. Before the match while the two were changing, his brother had given him a short talk to try and keep him clam about the outcome of the match

"It's all right, Albus. You brought more glory to our team then we have in ten years. In fact, you've made the most famous sports team in Hogwarts history since dad! Well, at least according to Uncle George." James had said.

"What if we lose?" Albus had asked.

James summoned his broom and looked through a hole in the ceiling to the full moon above, "Then we'll go down fighting."

But now Albus wasn't as assured. He still felt a tremendous amount of pressure being placed upon his shoulders.

The team had reached the starting line in the sky when Dewhurst voice boomed again. "The match today will take place mostly in the Forbidden Forest. Special surprises for the teams have been arranged. Racers, prepare yourselves."

The reason the match had been scheduled for the nighttime was apparent now. Albus drew his wand and muttered, "_Lumos Maxima_" a small ball of light was produced from his wand and floated down in front of his broom. He saw him teammates use similar tactics. After a minute, everyone was ready and, with the flick of Madame Hooch's wand, the race had begun.

The first few minutes passed without much occurrence. Finally, the racers actually entered the thick mass of trees. The Forbidden Forest was a dark place; it cold during the day, and freezing at night. Creatures of unknown kinds lurked around, making the place the only sure way to get killed at Hogwarts. There were support wizards standing by, but Albus wasn't planning on taking the risk of falling into the dark depths of the forest. Following the pre-laid out trail, Albus hovered towards the tree tops. Even with the light traveling in front of him, it was hard to see anything.

Albus hadn't noticed it but it seemed things had gotten quiet; really quiet. None of the other players were there anymore. They had all gone away.

"Teddy?" Albus stuttered "James?"

A great howl come from out in the distance. Albus looked below him. He squinted to find the source of the noise. As he looked he saw something glow orange on the ground. Something in the shape of an archway planted to the ground. Albus was about to head down and see what it was when he heard the howl again but this time it was closer. In fact it was right behind him.

"_Lumos Maxima_!" Albus yelled again and another ball of light hovered over behind him. Albus' eyes followed the ball as it floated to the hilt of a broom.

"_A broom!" _Albus thought "_So I'm not alone_!_" _but the temporary relief Albus felt was washed away when the light revealed who was on the broom.

_What _was on the broom.

A wolf was on the broom. It was bent over in a human likeness. As Albus got a better look, he saw that part of the wolf had missing fur and under it was normal human skin. His hind legs bent in the same way that Albus' did and his arms were gripping on to the broom handle. Out of its paws Albus saw, to horror, thumbs that helped the monster retain his grip.

"What are you?" Albus screamed.

But the wolf didn't hear him; instead it began to leap at him. Its body left the broom and jumped onto Albus.

From his pocket Albus drew his wand but the dropped it when he heard the terrible cry of the wolf again.

Albus didn't want to do it, but he knew he was in terrible danger and there would be nothing else to do.

Time slowed down and is eyes fell heavy with the feeling of drifting off to sleep. His mouth moved by itself and he heard a snapping sound as a stick from a tree flew to his hand. It was as if in his subconscious state he knew that he couldn't risk being seen doing wandless magic.

This time the sensation went away before he did anything to actually save himself. Albus was scared stiff. He closed his eyes and with all the power that he could muster, screamed as loud as he could, "_Protego_!"

It was a powerful spell that shouldn't have been possible for a first-year, even within the magical boundaries of Hogwarts. Yet, a small silver shield emerged before him. Albus heard the wolf hit it and heard a long howl which Albus knew meant the wolf had fallen to the ground.

Albus reopened his eyes. He was back at the starting line. Somehow, he knew, the same sensation had taken over as his eyes were closed and flown back here.

The Race was over.

The Rising Phoenixes won.

The party lasted longer than any previous. Albus found out that some of the Races had gotten into a large duel and fallen behind. A lot of people were knocked out of the match when the same wolf that Albus encountered attacked and took the rest out. Hogwarts staff rescued everyone, although a few members of the other team, including team captain Romule Indy had been taken to the Hospital Wing.

The sun was just rising and the party was still going strong when Teddy, the only one from Albus' team who had to go to the Hospital Wing, entered the common room and walked over to Albus.

"Here you go." Ted dropped Albus' wand into his hand, "Try not to lose it again."

Albus thanked him and began to leave when Albus realized something. According to the accounts of his teammates, Ted had been the first to disappear. "Teddy?" Albus turned to ask him, "I heard you disappeared first. You should have been rescued first and yet somehow, when I'm already far away and I lose my wand somehow you retrieve it?"

Teddy looked behind him, grabbed Albus by the shoulder, and walked towards the tower entrance. "I know you have Harry's cloak. Put it on over us."

Albus obeyed and the two, under the cloak, left Gryffindor Tower and walked down a couple of stairwells. Within a couple of minutes, Ted had led them into some empty room.

Teddy took off the cloak as he began to speak to Albus, "I disappeared first, I wasn't out of the race first."

Just that confirmed what Albus already knew, "So it was you. How? Dad said long ago that you aren't a werewolf."

"And he's right, but I am the son of a werewolf. It isn't very often that werewolves breed and when they do the results are…difficult."

As Teddy said that Albus remembered the full moon that he had seen during his pre-game talk with James.

"When a full moon comes out, I don't transform but sometimes, when I'm really frustrated or upset or-or-or angry I get this primal feeling. I'll want blood and-and flesh. I'll want to tear out the throats of people and-well I just become like a wolf."

Albus tried to keep calm, "But if you're not a full wolf than how did you transform into the shape of one?"

Teddy's hair shifted from its normal light brown into a light blue color, "I never do it around the family, but your father knows. I'm a metamorphmagus; I can change my appearance to my will. I could turn into the form of a wolf but as I'm sure you saw, still retain some of my more human physical abilities."

Albus understood, "You never went to the hospital wing then?"

"No, I hid out in the forest for the night and a little while ago, when the sun rose, I came back here."Teddy said.

"So we'd you do it?"

"Why'd I do what? Why'd I attack you, or why'd I go into such a wolf-like?"

"Both."

"I guess I can just kill two birds with one stone here. I was just so…frustrated." Teddy sighed.

"I get that, but why?" asked Albus.

"I-I rather not talk about it." Teddy said, although as Teddy finished speaking Albus was sure he heard the word 'Victoire' muttered.

"But," Ted continued, "It just got me all riled up that when the full moon came out, I just lost all control. I wanted to kill, I had to kill but I'm glad I didn't."

Albus knew ted was spent. Besides, at this point there was nothing left to say.

Albus was out the door when he poked his head back in for a final question, "Christmas morning you were also frustrated, is something happening…between you and Victoire?"

Teddy looked up. Albus saw his puffy and red eyes as Teddy nodded slowly. Albus sighed and realized that, for the time being, there was nothing left to speak about.

Albus left the room and headed down to his dormitory.

He needed some rest now.

Rose slammed a book down in front of Albus and Luke's faces that next day, "Channeling!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, decided to start talking to me again?" Albus asked.

Rose's ears got a little red, "I was just a little angry. But it doesn't matter now; I think I'm on to something. Luke told me that during the Race, you used a tree twig to cast magic?"

Albus glared at Luke, "Yeah, it's because of that weird wandless magic, I needed to cover it up."

"That's channeling!" Rose exclaimed.

Albus and Luke both looked at Rose with blank eyes.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, just read the book," she opened the book to a page and pointed to a place for Albus and Luke to begin reading.

Chapter XIV

Wandless Magic and Channeling

Since the time of ancient wizards, the ability to utilize magic without the help of a wand has been a rare ability. Those who develop this ability have also been able to channel. Channeling is the art of feeding magic through non-magical objects. Some wandless practitioners would channel their magic through ordinary objects. This art expanded into wandless channeling expanded into what is now what is classified as Channeling. Nearly a millennia ago, Channeling was used to expand the magical properties on objects. These lasting effects continue today in the use of objects such as Time-turners that affect those in contact with the object as well.

"Obviously since Time-turners were outlawed, this book is a bit outdated, but albeit that, all this is one hundred percent accurate." Rose said.

"And this has to do with anything because-?" asked Albus.

"I think that's how everything is connected. Your wandless magic, the destroyed objects, and the Scar of Wizardry!" Rose exclaimed.

"Hey, you want to go and tell the whole school? Keep it quiet. Now, how is it all connected?" asked Albus.

"You used wandless magic to channel magic through a twig and affect the wolf coming at you, right? So it's the same idea! Someone is destroying objects and channeling their power into the Scar of Wizardry!"

"Yes, but why?" asked Luke.

"Well, we don't really know what the Scar of Wizardry is, correct? So whoever is doing this must be channeling all this powerful magic into the Scar of Wizardry to activate whatever its does. You say you feeling burning pains in your back, by the Scar? That must be the effects of what's happening." Rose explained.

"Rose, that's great, really good job, but the fact is we still don't actually know what's happening." Albus said.

"But I plan to find out." Rose smiled and walked away with the book.

Albus looked to the staff table where he saw his father. His scar burned a little as he looked in that direction. If he was in Albus' position, he would know what to do, but he wasn't and Albus knew now that it was really time for him to start to figure things out for himself. It wasn't his father's fight anymore, it was his.

In the midst of thought Albus felt a little bump at his side. "Hey, Al, all that 'going to find out' stuff" Luke nudged Albus, "what the bloody hell is she talking about?"


	15. Hallway Meeting

**Hallway Meeting**

It was the Friday after the match. Albus had woken up that morning to see that he had overslept. Throwing on the first thing he could find, Albus rushed out of the dungeons and headed up the stairs to get to class. He ran up the stairs in a mad dash to get to class but when he finally slowed down to see where he was, he realized he had gone up to the wrong floor.

Albus began to look around when he felt himself collapsing to the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry." said a sincere voice. A hand that came from the voice reached down to help Albus up. Albus took the hand and was lifted to his feet.

"It's fine." Albus said as he brushed off his robe. He looked up at the boy who had helped him up. The boy had a pointed face; his mouth had the slight outline of a smirk. The boy had silvery-blond hair that was situated behind his hairline and in a way, complemented his gray eyes. The boy was tall; his Gryffindor robes seemed a little tight, as though the boy had recently grown a considerable amount.

Albus' mouth hung down in the open. It had finally dawned on Albus, although he was a little surprised by the smirk since it had previously been absent. "Malfoy?"

The area around Malfoy's mouth brightened, "I prefer Scorpius, actually."

But Albus' still hung from his jaw, "Malfoy?"

"Again that's Scorpius. S-C-O-R-P-I-U-S, Scorpius."

"Malfoy?" Albus asked yet again. He wasn't really sure why he was so surprised, he knew he was in his year, but he had rarely seen him. They weren't even in any of the same classes and Malfoy never seemed to be at meals or Racing and Quidditch matches. In fact, Albus hadn't seen Malfoy but a few short times since their arrival at Hogwarts and he hadn't ever talked to him. Yet, for some reason the kin of Harry Potter's enemy brought such a shock to Albus.

He was finally able to compose himself. When he finally able to come to terms with who he was talking to, his face twisted into a disgusted snarl and snatched a book that had fell out of his hands when Malfoy bumped into him, "I'll take my book, thanks."

Malfoy was taken aback, "I'm sorry…I think. Er, what exactly did I do to you?"

"Oh, shut up Malfoy." Albus snapped. His back was burning. It was the scar. "Just-just shut up."

Malfoy glared back at Albus half-heartedly, "Fine." Malfoy turned and walked away.

"Now, now, is that any way to treat your fellow classmates?"

Albus jumped. He turned to see that out of nowhere had come the Headmistress.

"Oh, Professor Ravensddole, good morning." Albus said.

"That doesn't answer my question, how would you feel if someone treated you like that?" Ravensddole asked.

"Pretty bad, I suppose." Albus said, though he didn't really mean it.

"I should hope so. Now, shouldn't you be in class? History of Magic, I believe?" Ravensddole inquired.

"Yes, professor, I overslept and now I'm kind of lost." Albus explained.

"Very well. You've been an excellent student according to all your teachers this year. I'll escort you to your class and make sure you professor is aware that your lateness was a fluke." Ravensddole said. She then turned and walked over to a suit of armor. She inserted her wand through the mask of the armor and withdrew it. Suddenly, the suit of armor leaped out of the way to reveal a small doorway. Ravensddole motioned for Albus to follow her through the doorway. As they went into through the doorway they found themselves on a stairwell. Albus went down in and after only a few small steps, Albus encountered another doorway and existed.

"Your class should be just down this hall," Ravensddole handed him a note as she undid the braid in her auburn hair, "give this to Professor Kinlan, it's just me excusing you from being delayed."

"How did-I mean did we-I'm pretty sure we were on the third or fourth floor, how'd we get down to the first floor in just a couple of steps.

Ravensddole stared at him for a moment and with shining blue eyes said, "Magic."

Albus nodded and thanked the headmistress for the note. He went down the hall and entered the class to find Kinlan giving a lecture to the class.

"Wizards of the time would often create sentient or semi-sentient creatures to aid them in- why Mr. Potter, how nice of you to join us today."

The entire class turned to look at him. Albus could feel his face grow red but walked up to the teacher anyways. He handed Kinlan the note and waited for a reaction.

Well, the reaction came, and it was quite frightening. Kinlan drew his wand and jumped real close to Albus and through his gritted teeth asked, "Did you read this."

Albus was quite scared and barely managed to say, "No."

Kinlan thrust the note back, "Good."

Albus, still terrified tore the note in half and discarded it into a nearby waste bin. He then sat down for another boring lesson of History of Magic.

Saturday night came and the trio was all hanging out in the Gryffindor tower. It was fairly empty except for a couple of second years and a pair of third years. Luke was eating a bit of food he had taken from dinner and Rose and Albus were exchanging notes for class.

"At least someone knows how to take their own notes." Rose said.

Luke looked up from his plate, "You mean me?"

Rose rolled her eyes and put her notes down, "Hey Albus, can I talk to you about something."

Albus tossed the parchment he had been using behind him, "Yeah, sure, what's up?"

"Scorpius told me what happened yesterday and personally I think you were extremely rude to him." Rose said.

"He's a Malfoy, they're all dirt." Albus responded.

Luke spat out something in his mouth, "Yuck, who snuck in a vegetable there?"He looked over to Rose, "Why where you talking to Malfoy anyways?"

"Scorpius." Rose corrected.

Albus pointed at Rose and gasped, "You talked to him on the boat ride. Hagrid told you to join him in his boat, you talked to him!"

"And I've talked to him since." Rose stated firmly.

"I can't believe you. How could you do this?" Albus asked.

"He's a Malfoy; we don't associate with his kind."

" 'His kind' was placed into Gryffindor, where the most noble people live. Who can you say such terrible things about him?" exclaimed Rose.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow; I don't feel like talking about this." Albus said. He got up and left for the dungeons. He was so surprised and shocked to see his cousin talking to the son of a family Albus had always known as a horrible family.

But it didn't mean anything; he's still just a Malfoy.

Isn't he?


	16. Disease

**Disease **

The night was cold. Colder than it normally would have been in April. Yet, in the Slytherin dungeons, Albus was wearing layers to try and keep warm.

Jayden had suggested he wear his robes to sleep, but Albus was down to his last clean pair. So, Albus spend the better half of the night trying to keep warm. Eventually, Albus finally realized he wasn't getting any sleep.

Albus put on his school robes. His hand then slid down to underneath his bed and out from there he pulled his Invisibility Cloak. Grabbing a few pairs of the school uniform, Albus donned on the cloak and left the dormitory. He ascended the stairs and headed up to find the laundry room he had been using in the past.

After an hour of thorough soaking, it seemed that the eleven year of smell had finally disappeared. Albus withdrew his wand from the back pocket of his pants when he heard the door to the room, which was around the corner, open. Albus flicked his wand to blow out the lights and quickly divided under his Invisibility Cloak just as he heard footsteps round the corner to where he was. Albus could see a figure moving around, his arms flailing.

Finally the figured calmed down and in a familiar voice called out, "C'mon Albus, I know you're here."

Albus whipped of his cloak and said breathlessly, "James!"

"That'd be me." James said as he relit the room with his wand.

"How'd you know I was here?"

James held up a large piece of parchment, "Try not to lose your stuff." James handed Albus the Marauders' Map, which Albus had long acknowledged to be lost in the passageway.

"Thanks. So, why were you looking for me?" Albus asked, taking the map.

"We have situation." James said, ushering Albus to the door.

"What kind of situation?"

"Hospital Wing kind of situation."

They were just leaving the room when James turned to tell Albus that, "The passage is a one way, you know. You can't go back the way you came."

And with that the tow headed up to the tower in which they found the Hospital Wing. When they arrived, Albus asked, "So, why are we here?"

"That's why." James pointed to one of the beds. There, under the moonlight, lay a figure. The small waisted figure had silvery hair which ran down to the middle of her back. In addition to the moonlight, there was a fading glow that seemed to surround her. Her skin had turned to a sickly pale color.

Albus ran over to his sick cousin, "Victoire, what's wrong?"

Victoire was awake. Her eyes that had previously been blue had faded to gray and where staring up at him. But she didn't speak. It seemed perhaps she couldn't speak.

"Ted came in here carrying her. Said she had taken a turn for the worse and wasn't speaking." James explained.

"_A turn for the worse?" _Albus thought in his mind. "_So that's what Ted must have been so distraught about that night of the match."_

Albus then opened his mouth and asked James, "Is it…fatal?"

"I don't know. No one is even sure what it is yet." James said.

Albus looked again at Victoire. Her eyes were now closed but she looked ghastly. Albus couldn't recall ever feeling worse for someone before.

"Albus, I'm going to head out, Dad told me to tell mum about this. Say, can I borrow Phoenix?" James was referring to Albus' owl that he had gotten before school. Albus hadn't named it until he joined the Racing team upon which he decided to honorary name the owl Phoenix.

"Yeah, he's up in the Owlery." Albus replied.

James thanked Albus and left. Once he had left Albus turned to face one of the dark corners of the Hospital Wing to confirm what he had suspected.

"What can you tell me about what's happening to Victoire, Ted?" Out of the shadow came a gaunt looking Teddy Lupin. His eyes had faded to gray as well and he had stubble on his chin, though Albus suspected this was the result of Teddy's ability to change his appearance. What Ted couldn't change was the grieving look on his face.

"I don't know. She had progressively showing more and more signs of illness for the last two months but now…now she's bedridden. She's going to die, Albus, she's going to die."

"How did this happen? Was there anything that maybe caused it?" Albus asked.

Teddy considered the question for a moment before deciding to say, "She lost her pendant."

"What pendant?"

"She had this pendant. Her mother gave it to her. Apparently Beauxbatons had it for a long time before giving it to Fleur because she had been chosen for the Triwizard Tournament and eventually she just gave it to Victoire." Teddy leaned into Victoire and held up a small golden chain that had been lying on top of her breast. "At the end of the chain was a pendant. It was a purple stone in the shape of a diamond and was bordered by layered gold. A little after the holidays Victoire discovered it had disappeared."

"She lost it?"

"She wore that pendant around her neck everyday for seventeen years, she didn't lose it. I think it's more likely it was stolen, like all those other items."

"Did it have any magical properties?" Albus asked, thinking how all the destroyed objects possessed unique talents.

"Not that I am aware of."

All the other items were destroyed. But the pendant was stolen. Albus had thought the pendant was related to the destructions that were taking place, but it isn't. As if Albus didn't have enough to worry about. He made a quick mental note to ask Rose about it.

"So you think the pendant going missing has something to do with this?" Albus asked.

"I do." Teddy buried his head into Victoire's hair, "But I just don't know what."

Albus saw Ted was beginning to cry and decided to leave him alone. He was nearly out the door when he heard Ted's muffled voice say, "It's going to kill her. I know it, I can feel it."

"Hey, Ted?"

Ted gave something that was between a grunt and a whimper.

"Don't give up the fight before you've lost it." Albus left, but not before seeing something Albus hadn't noticed before.

On Victoire's finger was a ring.

"What if they're related?"

It was the week after Albus' nighttime visit to see Victoire. He had finally gotten a chance during this day, Thursday, during dinner to ask Rose about the missing pendant. When he asked if she thought it had anything to do with the destroy objects Rose replied saying they must be related.

"But the real question is how." said Rose. "We know someone is channeling magic to you and the Scar of Wizardry, but why would they take a pendant instead of destroy and channel it? And moreover, why would a missing pendant induce some unknown disease in Victoire?"

The gears in Albus' brain began to work. "Maybe the person isn't as radical as we thought."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"Maybe whoever is doing it not actually destroying the objects? What if they are using the more channeling while the objects are still intact?" Albus suggested.

"I suppose it's possible." Rose confirmed, "but what about all the remains we found after each destroyed object?"

"Yes, but did we actually check them that closely? They are fake remains." Albus declared.

"So why weren't there remains to the pendant?" Luke asked.

"I don't know," Albus said but as the scar on his back burned he became as sure as ever of it, "They are related, and I will find out how."


	17. End Game

**End Game**

It was when the cold weather had gone and spring was well settled in that Albus made up his mind. He had just come from another nighttime visit to check on the ill Victoire. As he was there, Madame Knightgale, the recently appointed Hogwarts nurse found him during his nighttime appointment. In sympathy, she promised not to report on his actions, but did ask that he left. Albus consented to leave but not before asking her about Victoire's condition.

Madame Knightgale gave a large sigj. "Not good, to be perfectly honest. We have had top wizarding physicians from the area come to examine her but they just can't figure out what is wrong with her."

"She's going to die soon, isn't she?" Albus asked.

Madame Knightgale dropped her gaze as to not look Albus in the eye. "Yes, I think she will. Next Saturday night we're sending her off to St. Mungo's."

Albus eyes became wet but he swallowed back the pain. After all it was worse for people like Teddy. He took one last tearful look at Victoire, "Thank you. I'll be along now."

As he left he could hear Madame Knightgale call, "And head back to your dorm!"

But Albus wasn't going back to his dorm. His mind was made up. He knew that it was time once and for all to go after whoever was destroying everything and stole Victoire's pendant. He knew he had to find Rose and tell her.

"_No." _Albus thought to himself. "_I don't want to tell Rose, not just yet._" He decided it might be better to get a more heartfelt thought than a rational one. So, he headed down to the Hufflepuff Dormitories, located by the Hogwarts kitchen, to find his best friend, Luke.

Under the guise of the Invisibility Cloak, Albus made his way down to the Hufflepuff dormitories. Once he soon found the entrance, a portrait of a plump red headed woman who had a badger running across her shoulders.

"Password, please?"

Albus racked his brain for the password Luke had given him last week. "Er, the enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

The portrait began to recede into the floor. "And your loyalty shan't be divided. Remember that."

Albus put the cloak back on and headed up to where Luke slept. It took Albus ten minutes to wake Luke up, culminating in Albus pulling the mattress out from under Luke.

Luke rubbed his eyes. "I'm up, what do you want?"

"I just went to visit Victoire." Albus said.

"You woke me up for that?" Luke was usually sympathetic but hours before the sun rose, his mood was a little bit less than cheerful.

"She's being shipped off to St. Mungo's, the wizarding hospital, this Saturday night." Albus said.

"Well, sorry Albus, but really, why couldn't this have waited until tomorrow?"

Albus wasn't getting the sympathy he had hoped for. "Look, the thing is I know that if she leaves that's it. She's as good as dead. Someone _in this castle _has taken her pendant and that very same person had destroyed just about ever magical thing in this castle and is killing Victoire. We need to find the person who did it and we need to find the person now!"

Luke was now fully awake, "Albus, how?"

"I-I don't know, but we need to find something." Albus stammered.

"How about this; you need to prepare for the Racing Championship this weekend. Let Rose and I work on it. With Ted in the distraught state he's in, the Rising Phoenixes are going to need all the help they can get." Luke offered.

Albus considered it. "Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Albus realized he was lucky to have such a good friend like Luke. And, for this situation, a smart friend like Rose to make sure Luke follows through. He thanked Luke and left.

"Mr. Potter."

Albus jumped. It was Monday night and Albus was visiting Victoire again. He knew Rose and Luke were well on the case for finding out who caused Victoire's disease, but he still wanted to check on her.

"What are you doing here?" Professor Kinlan asked.

"Professor, I was just visiting my sick cousin."

Kinlan glared at him, "At three o'clock in the morning?"

Albus shrugged, "Well, I have classes during the days, don't I?"

"I would very much like to know how you got past Mr. Filch."

Albus tried not to look to the discarded cloak draped over the bedside but he knew Kinlan had already seen it. "Ah, the Invisibility Cloak. I should have known you'd have it." Kinlan picked it up and stuffed it into a pocket in his robe. "I'll be confiscating this, Mr. Potter. As for your punishment, you'll be spending the next five days in detention with me. No back to the dungeons."

Albus left without his cloak. He'd figured that when the time came he could just come back and get it via the Marauder's Map. But the real disappointment was that he couldn't spend more time with the dying Victoire.

He wished he could.

Saturday morning rolled around too soon. Little practice had been gotten in as preparation for the match. Ted hadn't been around and Albus had only seen him once that morning. For the last week, Albus hadn't had much free time. Between classes, homework, and detention Albus hadn't even had the slightest chance to prepare for the forthcoming match. And now it was here.

Albus was alone at breakfast. He had been for the last week at every meal. Albus had seldom said more than a word to either Luke or Rose. Albus took this to mean they were hard at work uncovering who was behind the plot. But it didn't make the biggest difference to him; he would see the two of them after the match. After all they'd be there to cheer him on, wouldn't they?

Not even an hour later, Albus was in the locker room changing for the game. The final match of the season and the first chance the Rising Phoenixes had at winning the championship. But no pressure.

The team left the locker room and had gathered at entrance to the stadium. Albus was squished in between Antigone and Gideon when he heard Dewhurst's voice boom in the Quidditch Pitch and begin to announce the beginning of the game. "Wizards and Witches! We have all gathered here today to celebrate the union of these two-oh wrong speech." Dewhurst's joke earned a rousing laugh from the Racing fans, "Ugh, weddings, bar mitzvahs, funeral, Quidditch-ah! Here we are, Racing. Today is a glorious day for the Rising Phoenixes. Yes, for the first time since the sport began they have finally made it to the championship with the help of their newest member, Albus Potter!" A thunderous applause erupted in the audience. "For the first time as well the ever victorious Striking Demiguise have been preparing day and night for the match and reportedly, the Rinsing Phoenixes' captain, Ted Lupin has been quite ill and both Racers Albus and James Potter have also been said to be displaying signs of sickness which might be just enough to tip the match in favor of the Striking Demiguise. Here to discuss the match with me is the current chief sports correspondent for the _Daily Prophet_, Ginny Potter."

A gracious applause came from the Racing audience, who were going impatient from waiting for the match to begin. "Now, Mrs. Potter thank you for coming here, any thoughts on today's match?"

Albus heard his mother's voice ring throughout the stadium, "Well, statistically the Rising Phoenixes shouldn't sand a chance, even with their improved season this years. However, I have attended many Racing Matches this year and believe that with a lot of luck and a couple of well cast spells, the Rising Phoenixes can clench the championship."

Dewhurst responded, "Thank you very much, Mrs. Potter. Now during the last match between the Rising Phoenixes and the Flying Hippogriffs, many nearly all the players fell out of the match in the very beginning after sustaining serious injuries from unknown sources, will that have an impact on today's match?"

It took Ginny a minute to respond. Albus guess that it was because she suspected what really happened. "In the long run of the sport here at Hogwarts, maybe, but for today, I think it's safe to say that nothing out of the ordinary will occur."

"Well, it sounds like the crowd is getting fairly fed up with us delaying the match so again thank you and let us begin!"

Albus was thankful Dewhurst didn't ask if Ginny having children on the Rising Phoenixes affected what she was saying. He guessed it had something to do with that Dewhurst was a Gryffindor and supported the Rising Phoenixes.

Dewhurst continued his announcement, "First up we have the Striking Demiguise who have come to claim their tenth consecutive victory. Opposing them in their very first championship game, from the tower of Gryffindor, the underdogs of the very sport itself, the Rising Phoenixes!"

A much louder applause came from the audience when the Rising Phoenixes flew into the stadium then the other team did.

The teams floated above the Quidditch Pitch to where the starting line was situated. As they arrived they heard Madame Hooch announce, "Today, the match will taken place in the Quidditch Pitch itself. Faculty members know where the Racers will be flying by so please find them and prepare to go to where you will be watching the match. Now, Racers, if you will take your places. And…Go!" The golden line that made up the boundaries appeared before them and then sped off. For the first few seconds it seemed that once again Albus was in last place, but within a second, the Racers encountered a sharp dive, a move in which Albus' Crimsonstrike 1000 excelled. With that drop, Albus bolted into the head of the race. The dive took them to a couple of feet of the ground before they straightened out. After Albus had straightened out he looked back to see how everyone else was fairing. Everyone had made it except for Ted, who was approaching it now. But something was wrong. Ted's eyes were closed. And they stayed closed when Ted crashed into the ground. Albus began to yell Ted's name. It seemed he must have been badly hurt but Antigone, who had caught up to him yelled over the wind, "Leave him, he'll be all right."

Albus looked back one more time before nodding and focusing back on the match. The track them off the field and towards one of the towers. They approached the towers to find that through each towers were holes small enough to fit a single Racer. Albus flew through one of the smaller holes towards the bottom of the tower. Normally he would be making sure that he was safe from spells and Bludgers but the team Barrier, Ceara, had promised to protect Albus more carefully than the rest of the team. Albus originally hadn't accepted but the rest of the team consented to the idea so Albus was more than happy to oblige. He was allowed, now, to focus more on the actual racing itself. However, Albus was in fact looking for Luke and Rose. He knew they had promised to help him with Victoire, but they did say they were coming to the game. But as Albus thought about it he remembered he hadn't spoken to them all week.

"_They're not coming,_" Albus thought in his mind, "_They're not going to be here._"

Albus was filled with disappointment and resentment. If he couldn't race for his friends, why should he race? And his sick cousin is leaving the castle; his father's godson nearly just killed himself, and his brother… his brother knocked over the head and off his broom.

Albus watched the event take place. James, who was a little ahead of Albus, was just entering another tower when Albus saw him hit with a red jet of light, a stunning spell, by the Striking Demiguise Racers and Albus' dorm mate Braydon Doter. It was the second time that year Albus had seen a Striking Demiguise use an illegal spell during a Racing Match, the other when Marcus Flint disarmed Albus in the first match. James body froze and he hit the edge of the tower hole. He then fell straight to the ground.

Albus was temporarily dumbfounded. He almost crashed into the hole's edge himself but managed to pull down again. As he entered the tower he felt anger swell in him. Nothing had gone right. And not just his friends. But the entire school. Someone wasn't out to destroy magical objects, it was him.

He felt a terrible anger rise in him. He raised his wand to the side of the hole and screamed, "_Incendio!_"

Albus burst out of the tower as it burst into flames. He then followed the track as it lowered him to wooded area between the field and the stands. He moved up and down to avoid the wooden supports as he cast the spell, "_Sectumspissus_!" which began to cut all the wooden supports and hit a couple of the Racers.

Then Albus saw it. The golden boundary led through some kind of hole in the ground. Albus could see that it opened up at the other side of the field through the stands and it led right down to the finish line which was placed in the very center of the field, not even four feet above the ground. Albus ducked down into the hole. He began to speed up and, with his anger, cast another spell that caused chunks of dirt and rock to come down from overhead. Within a minute, Albus popped out of the ground. Albus looked back to see the people who were left. Braydon Doter was all that remained. As Albus saw him, Braydon cast a spell Albus couldn't hear and a blue flame began to speed towards him.

Time began to slow down and his eyes became heavy with sleep as he burst through the hole into the stands. He felt the sensation begin to take hold when he saw a sight that made him ecstatic. He saw his little sister sitting on his mother's lap cheering his name and out from the stairs leading from the ground was Rose and Luke who were smiling and cheering his name along with everyone else.

The anger disappeared and Albus found that, through a great deal of willpower he threw of the slowing sensation that had took over him. He knew that this time he didn't need it; he was skilled enough on his own. "_Finite_!" he yelled as he pointed his wand at the oncoming spell. The blue flame disappeared into steam and Braydon flew into the steam. It blinded him and he lost control of his broom, crashing it into one of benches on the stands. Albus, on the other hand, descended down in the Pitch and flew through the finish line.

Applause came from the crowd. Albus yelled with joy as he let go of the broom and stepped onto the broom. Slowly he stood up until he was standing straight up on his broom, as he remembered seeing his grandfather, James Potter, do in a picture Harry showed him. His owl, Phoenix, took to the skies and hovered over him as the crowd began to produce the team colors, orange and red, from their wands.

Ten years ago did Hogwarts' Racing begin.

This year was the rising Phoenixes turn.

They were finished, they were done.

They had won.

Albus came out of the locker room to find himself in the embrace of his cousin.

"Albus! Albus! You did it, you won!" Rose kissed him on the cheek.

Luke also gave him a bug bear hug and congratulations. Albus graciously accept the praise from them both.

But Albus noticed something. In the happiness of his friends there was also a little sadness. "Luke, Rose, what's wrong?"

Rose looked to Luke, "Should we tell him now?"

Luke sighed. "He'll have to find out at one point."

"Albus, Victoire is gone. They took her earlier then we thought." Rose said, "But, there is an upside. W may not have been able to find out who was behind it, but we know where to find the person."

Albus would have been depressed by this if it hadn't been for their lead on the conspirator. Instead he was actually excited, "So?"

"Well, we didn't hear it directly but Victoire talked to someone before she left." Luke said.

"Who?"

From around a corner of the stands they were walking by, a lone figure appeared. Donned in Gryffindor robes and had a sneer that hadn't been their during their last meeting. Scorpius Malfoy walked up to them.

"No way." Albus said.

"Face it, he's our only lead," Rose said.

"Yeah, Potter." Malfoy sneered with a cold voice that Albus could tell was fake.

"Oh, give it up Scorpius; you don't have to act like that for his satisfaction." Rose said.

The sneer left Scorpius' face. "All right, Rose. Now, Albus when I was checking in on Victoire-"

"Why were _you _checking on _her_?" Albus asked coldly.

"We needed extra help." Luke said.

"Please Albus, just listen to him." Rose pleaded.

Albus nodded reluctantly as Scorpius continued. "She looked at me with these horrible glossy eyes and said, 'My pendant…he took it…the Great Hall' then she fell back onto her bed and some Healers from St. Mungo's came and carted her away on gurney."

Albus wanted to cry, he hadn't even gotten the chance to say goodbye to Victoire before she was taken away, but swallowed it down. Truthfully, he was happy to receive this information, even if it was from someone as unreliable as Malfoy. The person had taken the pendant in the Great Hall. It's wasn't much. But it was a start.

"Well, you know what this means," Albus said to Luke and Rose as soon as he was sure Malfoy was out of earshot, "I guess we got to go get my cloak back.


	18. Recovery

**Recovery**

"And it is my honor to present the Racing Cup to this year's champions, the Rising Phoenixes!" Ravensddole voice bellowed throughout the Great Hall, where the entire school had convened immediately following the end of the match. Ravensddole held up a large golden trophy for the team to come get.

Five members of the team went to the head of the hall to accept the trophy.

Gideon Malkovich, one of their Beaters, began to speak. "Our team's captain Ted Lupin and our Assistant Captain, James Potter, are both in the Hospital Wing being treated for injuries sustained during the match so as the senior member of the team I'll be accepting the Racing Cup on their behalf."

Albus smiled. Before heading down to the Great Hall, Albus had made a short stop to check on Teddy and James.

Teddy was out cold but the nurse promised he would be better within a week. James, he saw, had a large black bruise on his head on a large bump that was growing from the hit to the head. According to Madame Knightgale, who could barely look him in the eye since Victoire had been shipped off to St. Mungo's, James suffered very slight brain damage and would to stay for three weeks while she fixes the damage to the head.

Also, Braydon, who had stunned James, was kicked off the Striking Demiguise racing team and, to Albus' dismay, got fifty points deducted from Slytherin house for his illegal spell.

When Albus was still in the Hospital Wing and about to leave, James, who unlike Teddy was awake, turned to him and in a horse voice asked, "Did we win?"

Albus grinned, "Yeah, we did."

James smiled and turned over in his bed to face the other way. Albus left as James drifted off to sleep.

Now, he was in front of the entire school receiving the Racing Cup. It was the best Albus had felt in a long time. For a moment, all his troubles disappeared. No Victoire, no mysterious force taking over him, no Scar of Wizardry, no-.

"Augh!" Albus screamed and doubled over. The hall fell completely silent. Everyone was staring at him and his face hat had turned red from the embarrassment of the outburst. It was his back. The scar was flaring up again. It felt like a dozen knives were being driven into his back and then slowly twisted around in place.

"Albus," the Headmistress put her hand on his back and pulled him upward and to make sure he was wasn't hurt asked, "are you all right?"

The pain remained, if not died down a little. Albus was able to manage the word, "Fine."

With that Gideon raised the trophy on high and everyone took their seats as the rest of the students clapped for them.

Albus tried to have a good time but the pain refused to completely go away. Luke noticed his discomfort later that night to which Albus told him that they needed to find out who was behind everything and they needed to find out as soon as possible.

A week passed. Finally Sunday rolled around and Albus finally got a chance to recapture his Invisibility Cloak that had been taken two weeks previous by Professor Kinlan. He had taken advice Rose had given him and taken Saturday to get all his homework done. No, he had wasted enough time during the week. Now he would take back what was his.

"We'll use these." Rose had held up two galleons to show Albus and Luke earlier.

"Dumbledore's Army's coins! Brilliant!" Albus said. "I have the one my mum gave me in my dorm."

"What?" Luke asked as he was quite puzzled.

"Back in my dad's day, they formed this secret club called Dumbledore's Army to learn defensive magic. To keep it a secret they used these coins as means of communication." Albus explained.

"This one was given to me by my dad." Rose pocketed the one she was talking about and pulled out another coin that she handed to Luke, "And this one I borrowed from James."

"When you say borrowed-" Albus began.

"With his permission." Rose said sternly. "Anyways, tonight when you see on the Marauder's Map that Kinlan has retired to his quarter's for the night, you contact us via these coins and then we'll get ready while you meet us at our Dormitory's."

"Why can't you come to me?" Albus asked.

"You have the map; you'll know where to go to avoid Filch and others." Rose explained.

And so it was. It was nearly one in the morning when Albus saw the two figures, Kinlan and Ravensddole, finally leave his office for the night. He then warned Luke Rose of his impending arrival.

Within an hour, Albus had successfully gathered both of his friends and they headed up to the fourth floor. They arrived to find the area completely empty. Albus for his wand to unlock the door when Rose grabbed his arm.

"Don't, he probably charmed it to alert him when his door was magically unlocked. Most teacher do." Rose warned.

"Well, what should I do?" asked a frustrated Albus.

"Did you try just opening it manually? It might be unlocked." suggest Rose.

"Oh that's the stupidest thing I ever-" Albus heard a click as he turned the doorknob. "Oh, I hate you."

Luke laughed as the three students walked into Kinlan's office. It was dusty. It looked as though it was rarely used although some footprints visible through the thick layer of dust supported the Marauder's Map saying two people had been in there recently. The three spread out and began to search the office for the cloak. It took them a long time. It seemed every drawer had its own pair of drawers within it and within those another pair. Albus wondered what a History of Magic teacher could possibly need so much space for. But he did and the result was that they had to literally comb the entire office before finally, after what Albus suspected must have been at least an hour, Luke dropped below Kinlan's desk and gasped.

From under Kinlan's desk Luke rose. He had found some kind of rip in the dark blue carpeting. He inserted as many fingers as he could in there and pulled with all his might. He pulled out the carpet jus wide enough to reveal a small handle and the outline of a small hatchway. He pulled on the handle and a small compartment in the floor was revealed. He reached in to pull out a silvery cloth.

"I think I found your cloak." Luke unraveled the cloak and gave it to Albus. As he handed it over, a small sheet of parchment fell from the open cloak. Luke bent down and picked it up.

His hands ran down the parchment as he read it. It slipped from his hands and then he caught it. His hand then went to his mouth as he handed Albus the paper.

Wondering what could have caused Luke to be so shocked, Albus straightened out the paper and began to read.

His eyes bugged out from his head from the moment he began to read the note that had been emplaced within the folds of the Invisibility Cloak.

"_The boy is not channeling._"

**Author's Note: It's almost here! Following this, there will be another short chapter and then another two regular sized chapters. After that, you will have seen the end to Albus Potter and the Scar of Wizardry, almost two months ahead of schedule! But don't fret, for within the next month (or possibly two) Albus Potter and the King's Hallow will be coming out. Albus Potter and the King's Hallow is only a tentative title but there is about a ninety percent chance that that will be it. Also, so far I have planned for this to be a seven novel series but currently, unless maybe I get any ideas I can work with, I'm going to cut out my proposed third novel. **

**Anyways, thanks for all the support and keep on reading!**


	19. Kinlan

**Kinlan**

"_The boy is not channeling._" Albus read again.

Rose's jaw dropped. "What? What are you reading?"

Luke went down to the hatch that he had pulled the cloak out of again. He pulled out a tattered black book. The cover had a small hole in the center and a little black stain next to it. The pages were yellow and some of them were ripped through the middle. But it was Kinlan's handwriting all right. Albus recognized it from the curve at the end of T's that only Albus had only ever seen Kinlan do.

"It's Kinlan's diary, I suppose." Luke said.

"And this page fell out." Albus said as he refocused on the paper and began to read again.

"_The boy is not channeling._" Read the diary. "_Recently, I hid under the Invisibility Cloak that I confiscated from him and listened in on a conversation between him, the Weasley girl, the Harris kid, and the young Malfoy. It was the Weasley girl who thought of the idea. A well thought out idea, however wrong. _

_The Scar of Wizardry nears completion; I plan on checking on it tomorrow night if I can. No one has noticed that the remains found at each of the destructions were fake. The Invisibility Cloak will be last part in this plan. It is time I reveal my intentions before time runs out. The time grows near; The Scar of Wizardry will soon reach its completion."_

"So it's Kinlan." announced Albus.

Rose nodded her head slowly, "It seems so yes."

There was a long silence. Of course they had wanted to know who was behind everything but finding out like this…just didn't seem right.

"Don't you think this is all a little too convenient?" wondered Rose.

"What do you mean?" Albus inquired.

"Well, we find out about the Scar of Wizardry from some mysterious djinn who came from nowhere, Scorpius just happens to be by Victoire when she says something about the person, Kinlan, who took her pendant, and now we find the one page ripped out from Kinlan's diary that told us he was responsible for everything going on. Isn't all that a little bit convenient?" Rose asked.

"It might be. But it's all we got and I say we stay on it." Albus said firmly.

Rose nodded. "Fine. But do you realize what this all means? Kinlan said no one else had realized that the remains after each destruction where fake. He also said there is no channeling."

"So that must mean everything we thought was destroyed was actually just taken!" Albus exclaimed.

"I don't understand, then what about the Scar of Wizardry?" Luke asked.

"He probably uses some other method, but I still am sure they somehow transfer the power to Albus' scar." Rose confirmed. "And he says he'll be going to check on the Scar of Wizardry tomorrow, but where is he going?"

Luke put his hand to his head and thought for a moment. After a minute his eyes lit up and he asked Albus "Hand me the Marauder's Map."

Albus took the map out of his back pocket and handed it to Luke. Luke then opened it and pointed to a place on the map with his wand. "Here is your father's office, where the first thing was stolen, the _Ensis Lapiss_. Then, remember the next night someone destroyed the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets and that-uh…what was it?"

Albus and Rose both tried to remember but they couldn't remember the significance of the wand. "Hey, speaking of which why did they destroy the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets anyways? It's not like they can steal anything?" Rose asked.

Albus quickly related the story that he had heard his father telling Rose's father on Christmas about how the Chamber of Secrets has a lot of secrets; we just don't know what they are. He then allowed Luke to continue.

"Anyways, the two of those were both destroyed, uh stolen I mean." Luke drew a line from the Harry's office to the girl's lavatory. "Then that snitch was taken." Luke drew another line between the girl's lavatory and the resting place of the snitch. The snitch was the first one ever used at Hogwarts from centuries ago. It had been stolen around two weeks after the Chamber of Secrets' entrance had been destroyed.

"I don't understand." Albus stated.

Luke drew lines on the map with his wand several more times. "look they are going around in circles, each smaller then the last. Each is separated by the same amount." Luke put his fingers on several lines; each one was three fingers distance. "And if we put three to the right of the Great Hall where pendant was stolen we get the main hallway of the fourth floor, where our Magical Artifacts and Relics class is."

"Then that's it." declared Albus.

"Oh my gosh you did it!" Rose squealed and leaped onto Luke. She held onto him for a moment before actually realizing what she was doing. She then backed off and congratulated him.

"The fourth floor. What was the date of that diary entry?"

"Er," Luke checked. "yesterday, why?"

Albus grabbed the Marauder's Map, the Invisibility Cloak, and Kinlan's black diary and started out the door. "Kinlan's diary said he'd go check on it tonight. We need to catch him if there is any hope of getting all the stuff back and curing Victoire. Now, let's go."


	20. The Scar of Wizardry

**The Scar of Wizardry**

They arrived in hallway of the fourth floor to the spot Luke had showed them on the map.

"Rose, you know what this is?" Albus asked, peering down the endless dark crevasse before them.

"What?"

"It's that place you nearly fell down into, the day when the _Ensis Lapiss _was stolen." Albus said.

Rose recalled the day well. "And now we are going down it voluntarily."

Albus looked back into crevasse. "I'll go first. If you hear me after I go down or I tell you not to come, go straight my dad and tell him everything. Then send an owl to the Ministry telling them of what's going on. If we all do go down there, if I think things are too dangerous the two of you will turn back and do everything I told you to do."

Luke was obviously worried. "Are you sure?"

Albus put his hand on Luke's shoulder. "I am, but you need to promise to do what I say if needed."

Rose and Luke looked at each other and after a couple of seconds it seemed as if they had come to an agreement. "We promise." They both assured him.

Albus sat down on the edge of the chasm. He closed his eyes and braced himself as he flung his feet away from the edge and sung his body down.

"_Thud!_"

Albus looked up. It had only taken him a second to reach the bottom. He saw that he hadn't even dropped six feet.

"Albus, are you okay?" Rose yelled.

Albus was confused. He could clearly see Rose right above him. "Yeah, can't you see me?"

"No."

Albus jumped and grabbed the edge of the chasm. He lifted his head and chest out of the hole.

Rose gasped. "Albus, where's the rest of your body?"

Albus looked down to see only the part of him that was over the surface was exposed. "It must be charmed so you can't see anything below the surface." Albus stated.

Rose nodded and she and Luke plopped down into the crevasse as well. Albus lowered himself back down. Following the light cast down from the surface, the three followed a stone path heading east. Soon the light faded and the three were left in darkness.

"_Lumos_." All three of them lit their wands. The light revealed they were facing a wall with a small piece of parchment attached to it.

"_In here you will find three tests_," read Luke. "_A test of strength, knowledge, and courage. Once within a test you cannot go forward or turn back until you succeed. Those without the skill, turn back now. You have been warned_."

"We continue." declared Albus.

The wall parted and the three friends went through. The wall closed quickly behind them.

The light on their wand went out without warning. For a minute all was silent. Then candles produced flames all around them. Before them was another wall.

"Now what?"

But the question Luke had asked wasn't answered. Not with words, that is. Instead, a lower rumbling from both sides of them was heard. Slowly, moving skeletons, about a dozen of them, holding long metals swords and sharp daggers limped out from the darkness towards the three of them.

Rose screamed as Luke stuck out his arm and pushed her and Albus aside to the wall in front of them. He then drew a small sword from the stone floor that was just lying there below at his feet. He a gripped it with tow hands and put it in front of his face just in time to block a jab from the closest skeleton's dagger.

"Go! I'll hold him off!" Luke bellowed ducking to avoid the swing of one of the skeleton's swords.

"No!"yelled Rose.

"You must go now! Go!" shouted Luke.

Albus felt disheartened. He knew he shouldn't leave Luke but he didn't have much choice. He grabbed Rose as he saw the wall begin to open for them to continue on. "C'mon."

"We can't leave him!" shrieked Rose, her arms thrashing wildly.

Albus' eyes started to tear up. "He knew why we came down here. Sometimes we have to learn to let go."

Rose dropped her arms and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She took one last look at the fighting Luke and continued through the walkway.

The wall shut behind them again and they found themselves face to face with a man.

No, his head was a man but had a flowing man and the upper half of his torso was a lion's boy and the rest was stone, keeping him pinned to the floor.

Albus remembered his father once mentioning him acing one of these creatures but couldn't remember anything about it.

"Welcome."

Rose bowed and Albus, thinking Rose must know more about the creature than he did, bowed as well. "You have a riddle for us?" asked Rose.

The sphinx made a chocking sound that Albus guessed was his equivalent of a laugh. "No child just a question. If I was to ask you two a question and you gave the innocent answer, why would I not attack?"

Albus was stumped. He thought this might be the end of their journey when Rose started to speak.

"You are a asking a question and not a riddle. Also, instead of the common woman you have the head of a man, an androsphinx. Only one people portrayed the sphinx as a man and benevolent. The reason you wouldn't attack us is because you are of Egyptian origin."

The sphinx nodded. "That is correct. One may pass."

"What?" asked Albus.

"It as I have been ordered. Decide who continues or I will be forced to violence."

Albus realized this was it. He bent over Rose who had sat down from her overwhelmingly sad emotions. "Beyond that wall is what we've been looking for. And I'll face it, alone. It's my job. You go back and help Luke. Then get out of here and tell my father what's going on. Send a letter to the Ministry if dad agrees. Do you understand?"

Rose nodded through her tears. She then stood up and started back the way they came. The wall opened just enough for her to go in and then shut behind her. The stone end of the sphinx slowly turned golden until it became part of the rest of his body. The sphinx rose and moved slightly to the right to reveal a small doorway. Albus ducked and went through. Albus was in a circular room in the middle of the room was a silver pillar about six feet tall. On it was stacked something Albus hadn't seen for months. The _Ensis Lapiss_. Over the _Ensis Lapiss _crouched a man. He was a tall man at least six and half feet tall. His body was almost completely hidden beneath a black robe and a hood over his face.

The hooded man was speaking a language unlike any Albus gad ever heard. It seemed…_ancient_, like a language that hadn't been heard for millennia. The hooded man was holding something over the _Ensis Lapiss_. A was a purple stone in the shape of a diamond, its edges were covered in a thin layer of gold.

"Stop!" yelled Albus. "Put Victoire's pendant down, now, Kinlan!"

The hooded man, Kinlan, turned around. From within his hood Albus heard a low rumbling. The rumbling suddenly turned into a laugh.

"Kinlan? You thought I was your professor, Grayson Kinlan?" the hooded man spoke with a low voice that seemed to echo with a higher voice beneath it. The man then threw back his hood to reveal his face. He was nearly bald, with a little hair around his ears and close to the center of his head. His face was pale, nearly as pale as Victoire had been. His eyes were dark brown and around his small curved mouth was a large scar that ran nearly across his entire face.

"Who are you?" Albus was frightened and confused. He thought he had it all figured out.

"No one of concern to you."

"But, I thought Kinlan-" Albus began.

"No, no." the scared man, previously the hooded man, said.

"We found his diary. He said he was going to check on the Scar tonight. He said no one else knew the destructions were fake and he was going to reveal his true intentions soon." Albus stammered.

"Yes, he tried to stop me. He alone discovered what was happening long ago. He planned on revealing himself to everyone and what he knew. He wanted to stop me, but failed." The scarred man pointed to a far end of the circular room where Albus saw a limp looking Kinlan. "So, you found his diary. Good, you will give it to me."

"Why do you want his diary?" Albus asked.

"His diary? Try reading the name on the diary." The scarred man pointed.

Albus looked to the diary that he had stuffed in his pocket. "Tom…Marvolo…Riddle."

The scarred man summoned the diary with his wand. "His soul may have left it, but the residual power is strong. Surely you recognize the name of the Dark Lord?"

"Lord Voldemort." Albus whispered with fear.

The scarred man hissed. "Do not speak the name of the Dark Lord!"

"Why are you doing this, what are you doing to my scar?" Albus demanded.

The scarred man laughed. "You understand so little about all this. You thought you had the Scar of Wizardry. You are wrong. Don't you remember what your father first told you about the _Ensis Lapiss_?"

"He said no one knows what it does. The notes by Dumbledore on it were mostly lost but of what remained it said that the _Ensis Lapiss _was some sort of intermediary and it was the 'Wound in Magick"

The scarred man smiled. "The wound in magick. A scar is a wound. Wizardry is magic. The _Ensis Lapiss _is an intermediary for the wound. The Scar of Wizardry."

"But my scar-"

"-is not the Scar of Wizardry. Look at this." The scarred man beckoned Albus over to the _Ensis Lapiss_. Albus knew he should be close to this dangerous man but his curiosity took over. The scarred man pointed to the Ancient Runes that covered the stone. "Read it."

"Are you insane, no one can read these! No one has for thousands of-" But Albus stopped. As he looked he realized he could read it. " 'The Scar of Wizardry can only be assembled in the Temple of the Scar of Wizardry. When all the power of the magical world are taken and put through the wound in magick it will become the Scar of Wizardry. The Scar will allow the one who controls it to be able to control all of magick.' "

"So you see, everything stolen this year was taken to be put through the _Ensis Lapiss _to assemble the Scar of Wizardry. So now I may use this power and use it for my own gain!"

"But, these sensations I feel taking over me sometimes, I thought they because of the Scar of Wizardry." Albus said.

"You have that sensation, that power for the same reason you can read those runes. The same reason you are here today" The scarred man said.

"Why am I here today?" Albus asked.

"It was me. I cast the Imperius Curse over Victoire to tell you about the Temple here but you didn't show up. So I told the Malfoy child but Victoire was too weak to do what I commanded so I could only get her to tell you of the Great Hall. You then were able to figure the puzzle out and get down here. I had to wait until the Scar of Wizardry was nearly complete until I had you come down here." The scarred man explained.

"I still don't understand, why would you want me down here?"

"You posses the last item I need to complete the Scar of Wizardry but I could take it from you unless you were here alone where no one could help you. Now, you will hand over your Invisibility Cloak."

Albus' curiosity was satisfied. Everything made sense to him at this instant. Now he was coming back to his senses. He realized the situation he was in and the danger he was in. He needed to make sure the scarred man didn't get his hands on the cloak.

"Did you not hear me?" asked the scarred man. "I said; give me the cloak, NOW!"

"No, I won't let you." Albus declared.

"Then I'll take it from you by force. You wouldn't have a place in my world anyways." The scarred man started to run towards Albus.

Albus realized if ever there was it a time, it was now. He had thrown it off last time but now he needed it. Willfully, the sensation took over. Time slowed down but this time, instead of becoming semi-conscious, Albus was in control of his body but allowed the sensation to control his actions. His arm was thrown back way behind his head. He felt something suddenly appear in his grip. His arm swung back around at the charging man and in his gripped hand was a silver bladed sword covered in egg sized rubies.

The Sword of Gryffindor.

The sword sliced through the scarred mans chest. The man cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Albus, more in control now then the sensation, jumped over towards the silver pillar that held the _Ensis Lapiss_. Albus threw the sword over his head then thrust it down on the _Ensis Lapiss_. The stone split in half. Albus then threw the sword down to the floor and he fell to his knees.

The scarred man was sprawled out on the floor. He looked up Albus and said, "As long as that power controls you, you will never be free." And the man's skin turned gray and started to turn to sand and then became smoke and was blown away.

Albus watched on. He had won.

Then his body fell completely over on the ground and everything went black.


	21. Gryffindor

**Gryffindor**

Blurry images swam around Albus' eyes. He couldn't see that well and wasn't sure what was going on but he could tell he was lying down on a bed.

"Is he all right?"

"Look, his eyes are opening!"

"Albus? Albus!"

Albus could hear the distinctive voice of Madame Knightgale yell over the voices, "Back off! Back off! You can see him later; let him get up on his own."

Albus rubbed his eyes and pushed with his elbows to get up. He found that was indeed in the Hospital Wing. He looked around the room to see the last two people that had been in the room leaving.

"Ted! Victoire!"

A smiling Ted Lupin and a glowing Victoire strode over to Albus' bedside. Victoire looked stunning. She was no longer pale and sickly looking and her eyes had returned to their sparkling blue color.

Ted also looked great. He no longer bedridden from his crash during the Racing championship and the grief that had captured his face for the last few months had disappeared.

Ted grabbed Albus' hand and shook it wildly. "You did it, you really did it!"

Albus smiled. He still didn't know what had happened after he had fallen unconscious but he felt pretty confident that everything worked out.

In his grip he felt something. He opened it up to find the purple diamond shaped stone that the scarred man had taken to be in his palm. He realized when he fell his hand must have fallen atop where the pendant had fallen. "Here Victoire," he handed her the pendant. "I believe this is yours."

"My pendant!" Victoire shrieked as she accepted it from him. She attached it back to her golden necklace and bent down to kiss Albus on the forehead. She then began to leave.

Ted gave Albus a pat on the back. "Thanks, Al. For everything."

"So is it off?" Albus had noticed that the ring he had seen Victoire wearing before she left the castle was now gone.

Teddy nodded without regret. "For now."

Albus nodded and said good bye as Teddy left the room to catch up to Victoire.

Albus turned over and his side. He was still quite tired. He was just getting comfortable when he heard the doors to the room open. Albus got up to see who it was it was his father.

"Albus, my son, you did it!" Harry swooped down and gave his son a giant bear hug.

"Thanks dad but, er, what exactly did I do?" Albus asked.

"Ah, after you fell unconscious. Well as per your instructions both Rose and Luke made their way back up here, woke me up, and told everything. I alerted the other teachers of the situation and then came down here to find you lying on the floor by a bunch of robes and Professor Kinlan. Now, would you mind telling me about what went on down there?" Harry asked.

Albus told him everything. "…and I then the scarred man said all that was left was to take the Invisibility Cloak. So I drew my hand over my head as that sensation I told you about took over but this time I was also partially in control. Then somehow out of nowhere the Sword of Gryffindor appears in my hand which I used to strike down the scarred man and destroyed the nearly completed Scar of Wizardry. The man turned to sand and blew away as it became smoke. Then I fainted and awoke here."

"I see. I am glad you had the cloak to tell the truth though." Harry said.

"Are you going to confiscate it?" asked Albus.

"As your teacher I should." Harry withdrew the cloak from his back pocket and handed it to Albus, "However, as your father, I think you should hold on to it."

Albus gladly accepted the cloak and then returned to his questions, "Dad, who was that man?"

Harry sighed. "For once, the mystery isn't completely solved. I don't know who it was but I promise that we will be finding out soon."

"I saw Victoire and she looked great, what happened?" Albus asked.

"The Healers at St. Mungo's say that she just stood up in her bed and returned to completely normal health at the same time, according to what I understand, you destroyed the Scar of Wizardry. They ran some tests and a day later released her to come back here." Harry explained.

"A day later? How long have I been asleep?"

"Five days." Harry elucidated.

"Five days?"

Harry ckuckled. "Yes five days."

Albus threw his head back into the pillow. He got up a second later realizing he still had a lot of more questions. "What about the objects that had been out through the _Ensis Lapiss _to form the Scar of Wizardry?"

"After you struck the nearly completed Scar of Wizardry everything just appeared in the room and as for the _Ensis Lapiss _itself, I have talked to the Minister of Magic and he agreed with me that it should be destroyed."

"I understand." Albus said. "Those tests before the Temple of Scar of Wizardry, do you know where they came from? They didn't seem like they were set up by the scarred man because he wanted us to go find him so he could get the Invisibility Cloak."

"I don't know but the way they were set up, the magic that was used seemed older. Not extremely old, but at least it was definitely dated back a couple of decades ago." Harry reflected.

"Yes but I don't understand what the tests actually were."

"The first test was the test of strength. How did you have strength then?" asked Harry.

Albus remembered something he had said to Rose when they left Luke to fight the skeletons. "Strength. Strength to let go."

Harry nodded, "Knowledge?"

"The sphinx didn't ask a riddle, that would be understanding. Knowledge is really knowing and having the awareness of what to do when the situation is tough."

"And courage?"asked Harry.

"There was no challenge of courage. There were only two for some reason."

"Wrong. There was test of courage. It was the hardest test there was and the test that decided your fate down there."

"The Temple. Facing the scarred man was the challenge of courage."

Harry smiled. "Yes."

Albus was uncomfortable. He had just conquered three traits that belong to a certain people. But his anxiety of being associated and compared to his father had left him. "Dad, at the beginning of the yea I was given a choice. I think I chose wrong."

"Our choices define us Albus. However, when we can realize that our choices were wrong and when we try to fix it then that is really what counts. You can say Draco Malfoy was a bad person but in the end he left his dark ways. Its times like that that really defines us."

"Dad, I think I made the wrong choice joining Slytherin. Can I join Gryffindor? Am I even worthy of joining Gryffindor?"

Phoenix soared. Albus' owl entered the Hospital from an open window and flew above him. Suddenly, the owl began to sing. The song touched Albus' very soul. It was a beautiful blend of sounds that an owl shouldn't be able to produce. The green feathers began to fall off of the owl and was replaced by orange and gold feathers. The red feathers blossomed and the owl was engulfed by a small flame that disappeared quickly. The owl had grown and its features changed.

"I heard that song once, twenty years ago from the very same phoenix." Harry said.

Albus was shocked as he saw the red bird fly over him. "Phoenix…is a phoenix?"

"Yes. His name is actually Fawkes. He used to belong to a great Gryffindor before he disappeared. It seems he has resurfaced and revealed himself to you. So you ask me if you are worthy of being a Gryffindor? Well, if that doesn't convince you, what about the sword? Dumbledore told me only a true Gryffindor could draw the sword from a hat, and if that's true than only those who embody Gryffindor himself could draw the sword from thin air." Harry said.

As Albus heard that he began to remember seeing the sword. In Diagon Alley, when a couple of sparks from Albus' wand caused Harry's robe to fly up a little. He remembered seeing something silver. Now he knew what it was. "You brought it here at the beginning of the year."

"Yes. Albus do you remember the night the _Ensis Lapiss _was stolen and the fake remains were on the floor?"

Albus nodded yes.

"Well, that night the sword was also stolen and it must have ended up down at the Temple. You didn't just draw the sword from nowhere. You drew the sword when it was trapped by dark magic. You are a Gryffindor." Harry explained.

"Dad, I told you about these strange sensations and how I am able to sometimes do this incredible wandless magic and now conjuring the sword, why can I do that?" It was the final unanswered question and the one Albus had been holding onto for the longest.

"Albus it's for the same reason that you can do many things a Phoenix can only answer the call of certain people. Wandless magic is rarely practiced except by a certain special people, Albus-"

"Mr. Potter? It's time to go." It was the same man Albus had talked to that last winter. The Auror, Norman Likuud.

"Dad, where are you going?" Albus asked.

"Sorry, Albus. Top secret Auror business." Harry replied as he walked over to Likuud.

"But what about what you were saying?" Albus asked.

"I won't be gone long. It can wait." Harry said. He walked out the door before peaking his head back in. "And Albus? Welcome to Gryffindor."

Madame Knightgale insisted he stay the night. The next morning, Albus woke up and headed down to Dungeons. He stayed there for the week, only telling Kraushaar who was the head of Slytherin house, that he would be transferring to Gryffindor. He didn't get a chance that week because of his final exams. But at the end of the week, Albus finished his last exam and was able to return and finish packing. He then took his stuff and headed up to the Gryffindor Tower. He had only told Luke and Rose he was going to Gryffindor House but when he arrived he greeted by the entire house who had a party that afternoon for him. During the afternoon he had fallen asleep. He woke up later to find it was dark out. He checked the time and realized he was missing the End-Of-Term Feast.

He quickly changed into Gryffindor robes that James had given him and ran down to the Great Hall. He opened the doors to see a completely silent Hall. Then everyone turned to look at him.

"Ah, Mr. Potter," Ravensddole obviously speaking as she was standing at the podium in front of the entire Hall, "I was just about to speak about you." Ravensddole turned her attention back to the entire Hall, "Now of course you can see from the bronze and blue decoration that Ravenclaw has won the House Cup. However, in light of recent events I have decided that another few houses deserve points. First to Mr. Luke Harris, fifty points to Hufflepuff for displaying loyalty and companionship in the face of danger."

Hufflepuff gave a modest applause. It wasn't enough to put them over the top but it did give them honor.

"To Miss Rose Weasley, fifty points to Gryffindor for quick and rational thinking in a state of emotional distress."

A giant applause came from Gryffindor. The extra fifty put them over the top and in the lead for the House Cup.

"And finally to Mr. Albus Potter, one hundred points for returning possessions to their rightful owners and having courage when things seem hopeless."

Slytherin House screamed and cheered for a whole minute. But Gryffindor House just smiled. The Slytherins began to notice their smiles and saw the robes that Albus was wearing. Albus smiled and walked over to the Gryffindor table.

"Gryffindor wins the House Cup!" Ravensddole announced.

Albus didn't care that he won the Racing championship. He didn't care how he did on his exams, he didn't care that he solved the mystery of everyone's stolen possessions. Because now, here, everything counted. Everything was right.

Everything was the way it was supposed to be.

Albus yawned. The night ahead was going to be a long one. The trip back home would last all night he knew.

"Albus," Rose said. "Luke and I are going to say goodbye to few people, want to come with?"

"Nah, I'll get to it." said Albus. Rose shrugged and followed Luke out the train compartment and closed the door behind them.

Albus tried to get to sleep for a while until it became blatantly obvious he wasn't going to get to sleep. So he opened up his truck looking for something to do. He eventually reached the bottom of his trunk when he found a stack of books. He picked up the first one he saw. He looked at it and recalled getting it as a gift for Christmas.

"_Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone_." Albus read the title. He shrugged and opened up the book. 

It didn't seem like a long time, but Albus was nearly at the last page when the he saw the sun was rising. At this point he was reading aloud to not only himself but also Rose and Luke who had joined him right after he began reading.

" 'Which means, Dumbledore called over the storm of applause, for even Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were celebrating the downfall of Slytherin, "we need a little change of decoration." He clapped his hands. In an instant, the green hangings became scarlet and the silver became gold; the huge Slytherin serpent vanished and a towering Gryffindor lion took its place. Snape was shaking Professor McGonagall's hand, with a horrible, forced smile. He caught Harry's eye and Harry knew at once that Snape's feelings toward him hadn't changed one jot. This didn't worry Harry. It seemed as though life would be back to normal next year, or as normal as it ever was at Hogwarts.  
It was the best evening of Harry's life, better than winning at Quidditch, or Christmas, or knocking out mountain trolls... he would never, ever forget tonight.

And suddenly, their wardrobes were empty, their trunks were packed, Neville's toad was found lurking in a corner of the toilets; notes were handed out to all students, warning them not to use magic over the holidays ('I always hope they'll forget to give us these,' said Fred Weasley sadly); Hagrid was there to take them down to the fleet of boats that sailed across the lake; they were boarding the Hogwarts Express; talking and laughing as the countryside became greener and tidier; eating Bettie Bott's Every Flavor Beans as they sped past Muggle towns; pulling off their wizard robes and putting on jackets and coats; pulling into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station.  
It took quite a while for them all to get off the platform. A wizened old guard was up by the ticket barrier, letting them go through the gate in twos and threes so they didn't attract attention by all bursting out of a solid wall at once and alarming the Muggles.  
'You must come and stay this summer,' said Ron, 'both of you - I'll send you an owl.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, 'I'll need something to look forward to.' People jostled them as they moved forward toward the gateway back to the Muggle world. Some of them called: 'Bye, Harry!' 'See you, Potter!'

'Still famous,' said Ron, grinning at him.

'Not where I'm going, I promise you,' said Harry."

But Albus had to stop. The Hogwarts Express pulled to a stop. But Albus didn't care. He knew what came next.

"Wait, Albus what about the rest?" asked Luke.

"Luke," Albus said as they exited the train. "it went something like this." Albus gave Luke a big hug and bade him farewell. Rose followed suit.

"I'll miss you two over the summer." Luke said to Albus and Luke.

"It's all right. This September we'll be together back at home.

Luke was just turning around when he heard this. He turned around and looked back at Albus confused. "You mean this September we'll be together back at school?"

Albus saw his mother and sister waving for him to come to them. Albus began his walk to them and yelled over to Luke.

"No, together at Hogwarts, out home." 

**Author's Note: And that is it! Thanks to everyone for reading! I plan on releasing **_**Albus Potter and the King's Hallow **_**within the next month. I was finally able to figure out how ot fix my plot for book three but I am going to need this next month to get ready for book two.**

**Once again, thanks to everyone and check back in next month (or hopefully sooner) for the release of **_**Albus Potter and the King's Hallow**_**. **


	22. Coming up Next

So many unanswered questions…

What is the sensation that takes over Albus?

What was Harry going to tell Albus before he left?

What mission did Harry have to go on?

Where did the djinn who told Albus of the Scar of Wizardry come from?

And most mysterious of all…

Who tried to create the Scar of Wizardry?

"_Even I don't know all of Hogwarts' secrets." _Albus Dumbledore

In his first year Albus saved the school from a mysterious threat….

_Image of the Ensis Lapiss_

But this year when the world needs saving…

_Image of a hall in Hogwarts_

One Potter might not be enough…

_Flash to Harry's Lightening Bolt Scar_

And when the world's savior goes missing in action…

_Camera panning down Great Hall_

It's up to Albus Potter…

_The name Albus Potter appears over Great Hall_

To find the man who's gone missing…

_Bright flash of light_

And bring him back before two worlds collide and destroy each other.

_Light clears to reveal title_

Albus Potter and the King's Hallow, first chapter up the week of March 20, 2011.


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